GWT  OF 
Sir  Henry  iieyman 


r 


Music  &  Its  Masters 


Uniform  with  this  Volume 

SYMPHONIES 

AND    THEIR    MEANING 

BY   PHILIP    H.    GOEPP 
i2mo.     407  pages.     Ctoth,  $2.00 

This  work,  now  in  its  third  edi- 
tion, has  demonstrated  its  great 
usefulness. 

Taking  up  the  representative 
symphonies  of  the  great  composers, 
and  illustrating  his  remarks  with 
excerpts  from  the  score,  the  author 
shows  the  individuality,  the  special 
intention  of  the  master,  and,  where 
possible,  the  underlyinjf  purpose  of 
his  art. 

As  an  aid  in  the  study  of  the 
symphony,  and  as  a  companion  at 
symphony  concerts,  the  book  is 
without  a  rival. 


Hy  permission  of  V..  H.  Scliroeder,  Berlin 

WAGNER 


Page  134 


.  Music  ^  Its  Masters  , 


Br 

O.  B.  BOISE 


(U- 


WITH    SIX    PORTRAITS 


Philadelphia    &   London 

J.  B.  LippiNcoTT  Company 

1902 


Copyright,  igOT 
By  7.  -5.  Lippincott  Company 


^c^  U   ^    (uuau     ^^WK^^ 


Electrotyped  and  Printed  by 
J.  B.  Lippincott  Company^  Philadelphia^  U.  S.  A. 


TO 

GEORGE  W.  STOCKLEY,  Esq. 


)  i  ♦> 


Preface 

I  HAVE  endeavored  through  showing 
the  true  nature  of  music,  and  the  con- 
ditions that  are  essential  to  its  growth 
in  breadth  and  significance,  to  incite 
amateurs  to  a  more  respectful  consid- 
eration of  its  claims. 

O.  B.  B. 

Berlin,  March  i,  1901. 


Contents 


CHAPTER  PACK 

I.  The  nature  and  origin  of  music        -        -      13 
II.  Music's    first    era,    and    the    influences 

WHICH  were  operative  IN  VARIOUS  LANDS 
DURING  ITS  CONTINUANCE  -  -  -  -         26 

III.  Biblical  mention  of  music  -        -        -        -      6i 

IV.  Music  from  the  invention  of  notation  to 

DATE 80 

V.  Wagner  and  the  music  drama    -        -        -     134 
VI.  What   are   the   influencing    factors    in 
deciding  musical  destinies  ?    Who  is  to 

BE  our  seventh   HIGH-PRIEST?  -  -      169 

VII.    A  summary    of    music's    ATTRIBUTES.      WhAT 

CONSTITUTES  MUSICAL  INTELLIGENCE?  -      1 88 


Illustrations 

PAGE 

Wagner  ...  -        Frontispiece 

Palestrina          ...  -  -            92 

Bach  -           -           -  -           •           -      99 

Beethoven          ...  -  -          106 

ScHXJBERT  -           -           -  •            •            -     109 

Schumann           -           •           -  •  -114 


Music   &^  Its   Masters 
CHAPTER    I 

THE    NATURE    AND    ORIGIN    OF    MUSIC 

K  GLANCE  backward  over  the 
course  of  music's  evolution 
suffices  to  show  that,  until 
in  very  recent  times,  it  furnishes  no 
pregnant  data  for  the  historian.  The 
first  era  of  music's  evolution  began  be- 
fore the  advent  of  historic  man,  for  the 
earliest  races  of  whom  we  know  any- 
thing had  a  well-defined  appreciation  of 
its  significance,  but  no  noteworthy  land- 
marks appear  until  after  music  came 
in  touch  with  modern  culture  ;  indeed, 
no  great  advancement  is  traceable  until 
after  the  invention  of  notation.  The 
first  record  of  melodies  produced  is  sup- 

13 


14  Music  and  Its  Masters 

posed  to  have  been  made  in  the  fourth 
century  (a.d.), — viz.,  that  of  three  Greek 
hymns, — to  Apollo,  Nemesis,  and  Calli- 
ope,— which,  however,  possess  meagre 
means  of  proving  their  authenticity. 
From  this  shadowy  period  until  harmo- 
nies enter  the  field,  nearly  a  thousand 
years  later,  the  historian  finds  no  fruitful 
material,  no  verified  accomplishments. 

The  march  of  material  events  was 
amply  recorded,  but  melodies  were 
passed  from  mouth  to  mouth  and  ear  to 
ear,  necessarily  changing  their  outlines 
in  the  process,  for  the  line  that  connects 
memory  and  expression  seems,  in  most 
of  humankind,  to  run  so  near  that  which 
leads  from  imagination  to  expression, 
as  to  engender  inaccuracy  in  trans- 
mission. (This  crossed-line  influence  is 
recognizable  in  the  productions  of  most 
composers.  Memories  become  entan- 
gled in  their  fancies.)  Although  our 
modern    melody    has    doubtless    come 


Music  and  Its  Masters  15 

down  to  us  through  long  lines  of  heri- 
tage, yielding  to  the  prevailing  influences 
of  each  successive  stage  in  transmission, 
there  is  no  statistical  light  on  its  line  of 
development. 

It  would  be  interesting  to  know  in 
what  form  the  first  musical  intuition 
manifested  itself,  and  then  to  trace  an 
unbroken  chain  of  cause  and  effect  from 
that  first  manifestation  to  date,  but  that 
knowledge  would  not  materially  benefit 
music,  which  is  the  only  art  whose  career 
does  not  follow  well-defined  cycles, — the 
features  of  periods  reproducing  them- 
selves with  the  recurrence  of  conditions. 

In  sculpture,  poetry,  and  architecture 
we  have  seasons  of  reverting  to  the  an- 
tique, and  with  good  results.  These 
arts  dealt  with  tangible  material,  could 
be  kept  present  to  the  eye  and  mind, 
and  therefore  developed  quickly.  We 
return  to  their  ancient  forms,  so  restful 
in  their  conformity  to  natural  adjustment, 


i6  Music  and  Its  Masters 

for  relief  from  the  tireless  ingenuity  of 
modern  producers,  and  to  find  bases  for 
new  flights. 

Music  is,  however,  so  essentially  in- 
tangible that  it  required  ages  to  discover 
sufficient  of  its  underlying  principles  to 
afford  the  foundation  for  an  art.  Noth- 
ing within  our  ken  has  been  as  slow  in 
evolving,  and  yet  nothing  has  shown 
such  an  unwavering  tendency  forward 
and  upward.  These  characteristics,  and 
its  insidious  influence  upon  man's  nature, 
entitle  it  to  be  called  the  divine  art.  It 
is  in  course  of  evolution  from  its  original 
germ,  but  the  outlines  of  its  early  tech- 
nical forms  have  no  significance  for  the 
nineteenth-century  composer. 

For  the  above  reasons  statistics  will 
be  avoided  when  they  are  not  essential 
in  locating  and  verifying  conditions. 
Some  periods  were  too  influential  in 
broadening  and  defining  the  scope  of 
musical   expression   to   be   ignored.     I 


Music  and  Its  Masters  17 

shall  endeavor  to  make  my  theories  in 
regard  to  the  origin  and  growth  of  music 
accord  with  its  inherent  qualities,  as  well 
as  with  man's  devious  and  changing 
nature.  The  greater  the  music  the  more 
direct  is  its  appeal  to  our  imaginations, 
and  the  stronger  its  effect  upon  our 
emotions.  Each  intrinsically  great  com- 
position has  its  distinguishing  mood  or 
temperament,  which  is  the  sequential  ex- 
pression and  perpetuation  of  an  emotion. 
This  mood  is  first  announced  by  the 
chosen  themes,  and  then  its  varied  phases 
and  the  cumulative  intensity  essential 
to  sustained  expression  are  secured 
through  the  logical  manipulation  of  these 
themes. 

I  would  divide  music  into  two  classes, 
natural  and  artificial.  The  latter  class 
is,  as  the  name  assigned  to  it  implies, 
a  mechanical  combination  of  musical 
means,  the  result  of  purely  intellectual 
processes,  incited  by  will  force,  and  not 


i8  Music  and  Its  Masters 

by  inspiration.  It  lacks  all  reason  for 
being,  and  I  shall  dismiss  it  without  fur- 
ther ceremony.  It  is  to  natural  music, 
which  springs  from  our  imaginations, 
is  formulated  for  purpose  by  intellect, 
appeals  to  the  sympathies,  and  sways 
the  emotions,  that  I  shall  devote  my  at- 
tention. The  music  of  the  barbarous 
races,  although  developed  little  beyond 
the  initial  stage,  is  adapted  in  its  char- 
acter to  their  habits  and  sensibilities,  and 
is  among  them  quite  as  powerful  an 
agency  for  stimulating  the  passions  as 
is  our  nineteenth-century  music  among 
the  people  of  this  Western  civilization. 
Their  musical  exercises  are  purely  emo- 
tional, and  therefore  natural. 

Natural  music  is  composed  of  two 
species,  that  which  is  earnest  and  edify- 
ing, and  that  which  is  entertaining  only. 
These  diverse  growths  are  equally  spon- 
taneous, and  each  develops  form,  sub- 
stance, and  proportions  in  keeping  with 


Music  and  Its  Masters  19 

the  intellectual  soil  by  which  it  is  nur- 
tured. 

The  world  requires  that  music  shall 
suit  its  varying  moods.  Some  of  Johann 
Strauss' s  waltzes  are  quite  as  genuine 
music  as  are  Beethoven's  symphonies, 
and  each  in  its  own  way  contributes  to 
the  pleasure  and  benefit  of  mankind. 
Which  would  be  the  greater  loss,  were 
it  blotted  out  of  existence,  is  unques- 
tionable, for  the  resultant  deprivation 
must  be  measured  by  the  comparative 
numbers  who  would  feel  the  lack  of  each. 
The  great  majority  of  the  public,  and 
even  some  of  music's  devotees,  derive 
more  pleasure  from  entertaining  than 
from  earnest  (so-called  classical)  music. 
This  is  partly  because  earnest  music  is 
quite  often  abstruse,  requiring  well-di- 
rected mental  effort  to  understand  its 
full  significance ;  but  a  more  generally 
prevailing  reason  for  this  condition  (es- 
pecially when  dance  music  is  concerned) 


20  Music  and  Its  Masters 

is  to  be  found  in  its  cheering  and  exhila- 
rating effect. 

I  think  it  pure  affectation  for  musical 
persons  to  express  a  lack  of  respect  for 
a  good  piece  of  dance  music.  A  large 
percentage  of  those  who  do  so  are  not 
sincere.  They  fear  to  discredit  their 
appreciation  of  the  classical,  thinking 
wrongly  that  there  would  be  something 
incongruous  in  liking  both.  The  artist's 
ideals  should  embrace  the  whole  gamut 
of  human  feeling,  and  music  that  strikes 
our  sensibilities  at  any  point  in  this  line 
is  genuine,  whether  it  be  a  symphony,  a 
love  song,  or  a  waltz. 

If  music  be  the  language  of  the  emo- 
tions, its  germs  must  be  those  sounds 
through  which  joy,  grief,  love,  fear,  rage, 
wonder,  and  longing  find  natural,  unpre- 
meditated, and  often  involuntary  expres- 
sion. The  fact  that  the  import  of  these 
sounds,  whether  produced  by  man,  beast, 
or  bird,    is  unmistakable,  has  led  some 


Music  and  Its  Masters  21 

writers  to  accord  music  the  honor  of  hav- 
ing been  the  initial  means  of  intercourse 
between  members  of  the  human  family, — 
the  original  language.  This  is  hardly 
consistent,  for  life  is  mostly  unrhythmic 
monotone,  punctuated  only  here  and 
there  by  episodes  fruitful  in  musical  germs. 
Scientific  observation  has  established 
the  fact  that  all  of  the  higher  species  of 
living  things  have  forms  of  vocal  inter- 
communication. Like  human  beings, 
animals  have  forms  of  speech  comporting 
with  their  degrees  of  intelligence  and 
needs,  but  quite  apart  from  these  forms, 
they  and  man  have  mutually  intelligible 
codes  of  emotional  expression.  These 
codes  are  not  identical  in  less  essential 
details,  nor  are  they  equally  compre- 
hensive, but  they  spring  from  a  common 
source.  They  vary  in  character  accord- 
ing to  the  qualities  of  instinctive  feeling, 
refined  or  coarse,  that  dominate  the 
creatures  that  employ  them. 


22  Music  and  Its  Masters 

The  lowest  grade  of  animal  life  which 
possesses  vocal  apparatus  is  susceptible 
of  but  three  emotions — anger,  longing, 
and  fear — in  such  measure  as  to  elicit 
expression.  The  higher  grades  feel  joy, 
love,  sorrow,  anger,  fear,  and  longing. 

Music  has  significance  only  when 
fraught  with  messages  from  the  com- 
poser to  the  hearer.  Therefore  those 
sounds  which  most  clearly  voice  strong 
emotions  are  the  most  pregnant  musical 
germs.  Isolated  shouts  of  triumph,  rage, 
and  joy,  or  cries  of  pain,  fear,  and  en- 
treaty, appeal  to  our  sensibilities,  but 
they  do  not  suggest  music,  although  its 
line  of  development  from  these  primal 
elements  is  traceable.  It  began  with  the 
first  intellectual  recognition  of  the  ade- 
quacy of  tonal  expression,  when  those 
sounds  which  had  been  involuntarily 
produced  as  the  result  of  sensations, 
were  placed  by  the  human  mind  in  the 
category  of  expressive  means. 


Music  and  Its  Masters  23 

At  this  point  our  germs  came  under 
the  influence  of  deliberate  purpose.  In- 
tellect took  spontaneous  shouts,  cries, 
and  moans  in  hand,  and  has  gradually 
endowed  them  with  continuity,  life  pulsa- 
tion (rhythm),  and  form  ;  has  made  them 
express  sentiments  surcharged  with  emo- 
tions, creating  a  definitely  significant 
atmosphere  {stimmung).  This  pervading 
atmosphere  or  mood,  which  is  a  vital 
element  in  successful  musical  effort,  must 
be  in  no  wise  confounded  with  the  situ- 
ations incident  to  and  arising  through 
the  descriptive  {program)  composer's 
art.  The  first  is  personal,  a  heart  mood  ; 
the  second  is  impersonal,  a  brain  picture. 

From  this  first  step  in  musical  evolu- 
tion intellect  has  been  more  and  more 
closely  associated  with  emotion,  as  the 
composer's  intentions  have  become  more 
definite  and  ]\\s/orms  more  extended. 

Music's  progress  has  not  been  uni- 
form,  for  it  is  most   sensitive,  and  the 


24  Music  and  Its  Masters 

conditions  have  often  been  unfavorable. 
It  has  followed,  to  a  great  degree,  the 
tidal  fluctuations  of  refinement  and  fine 
sensibility  in  the  masses ;  for  although 
its  growth  is  dependent  upon  certain 
conditions,  these  necessary  conditions, 
if  confined  within  narrow  limits,  or  when 
found  only  in  isolated  persons,  will  not 
suffice. 

It  must  breathe  a  free  air,  full  of 
sympathetic  feeling  and  impulse,  and  it 
must  have  a  broad,  deep  soil  in  which 
to  spread  its  roots,  for  it  aspires  heav- 
enward, up  through  the  material  into 
the  ideal. 

The  growth  of  music  from  its  initial 
stage  to  an  art  is  quite  analogous,  except 
in  time  consumed,  to  the  growth  of  each 
talent  to  maturity,  or  of  each  musical  con- 
ception to  full  expression.  They  all  move 
on  towards  realization,  impelled  by  art 
instinct  and  imagination.  The  com- 
poser of  to-day  has  a  legendary  past, 


Music  and  Its  Masters  25 

full  of  romance  and  heart-throbs,  and  a 
warm,  sympathetic  present,  to  stimulate 
his  fancy,  but  it  required  ages  of  joy, 
sorrow,  love,  and  culture  to  quicken  and 
refine  man's  stoical  nature.  The  soil 
which  nourishes  our  imaginations  has 
been  made  fertile  by  the  blood  and  tears 
of  countless  generations. 


CHAPTER    II 

music's  first  era,  and  the  influences 

WHICH     WERE     operative     IN     VARIOUS 
.       LANDS    DURING    ITS    CONTINUANCE 

i^^  I  'HERE  are  two  distinct  eras  in 
B  I  the  course  of  the  evolution  of 
music.  The  first  ended  and 
the  second  began  with  the  invention 
and  adoption  of  notation.  This  me- 
chanical device  so  revolutionized  mu- 
sical production  and  taste,  that  we  may 
properly  concede  to  it  the  honor  of 
having  made  possible  the  formulation 
of  our  art,  for  it  chronicled  the  accom- 
plishments of  each  generation,  thus 
furnishing  its  successors  with  suggestive 
models.  These  were  virtually  lacking 
in  the  first  era,  which  accounts  amply 
for  the  little  advancement  made  during 

its  continuance. 
26 


Music  and  Its  Masters  27 

That  early  career  of  music  is  shrouded 
in  utter  darkness,  unbroken  by  a  single 
luminous  episode,  and  the  lights  which 
we  are  enabled  to  throw  back  upon  it  are 
entirely  deductive. 

They  are  not  sufficiently  strong  to 
bring  details  into  relief,  but  they  suffice 
to  develop  outlines  which  are  ample  for 
the  purposes  of  my  sketch.  The  fact 
that  the  ancient  Egyptians,  Greeks,  and 
Chinese  devoted  much  attention  to  what 
some  are  pleased  to  call  the  science,  or 
technic,  of  music  is  to  me  no  indication 
of  the  condition  of  music  existing  at 
that  time.  Their  libraries  contained 
numerous  volumes  devoted  to  music, 
but  their  treatises  considered  melody 
(harmony  was  not  known)  from  a  purely 
mathematical  stand-point.  This  vital 
element  of  music,  which  should  be  as 
free  as  air,  was  fettered  by  pedantry. 

I  feel  convinced  that  the  evolution  of 
music  was  seriously  delayed  by  this  too 


28  Music  and  Its  Masters 

early  association  with  science.  China 
has  perpetuated  this  system  of  vassalage, 
the  result  being  that  her  present  temple 
melodies,  which  also  serve  as  folk-songs, 
are  utterly  devoid  of  plastic  grace  and 
spontaneity.  The  fallibility  of  long  lines 
of  oral  transmission  casts  doubt  upon 
the  Chinaman's  claim  that  he  inherits  at 
least  a  portion  of  these  songs,  in  their 
original  form,  from  a  period  four  thou- 
sand years  back ;  still,  there  is  one  feat- 
ure of  the  situation  which,  in  a  measure, 
substantiates  it, — viz.,  the  instinct  for 
imitation  that  distinguishes  this  race 
from  all  others. 

Evolution  involves  removal  from  an 
elementary  state,  and  we  measure  its  ad- 
vancement through  placing  the  present 
outlines  and  qualities,  of  whatever  may 
be  concerned,  over  against  those  that 
characterized  some  known  previous  con- 
dition. 

China     has     produced     some    great 


Music  and  Its  Masters  29 

scholars,  and  her  civilization,  such  as  it 
is,  endures  like  the  everlasting  hills,  and 
seems  subject  to  little  more  change  than 
they,  but  her  people  are  not  emotional, 
imaginative,  nor  susceptible  to  influ- 
ences from  without.  The  great  wonder 
is  not  that  real  art  feeling  has  never 
manifested  itself  in  China,  nor  that  she 
has  repulsed  all  attempts  to  introduce 
the  fruits  of  European  musical  culture, 
but  that  the  Chinaman,  with  his  nature, 
should  have  ever  evoked  our  muse. 
China  has  contributed  nothing  to  the 
development  of  music,  and  we  cannot 
draw  one  spark  of  light  from  her  for 
our  investigations.  The  Mongolian  race 
treated  their  feeble  first  musical  impulse 
as  they  still  do  the  feet  of  high-caste 
female  children, — viz.,  they  wrapped  it 
so  tightly  in  pedantic  cerements  that  it 
could  not  grow  ;  and,  being  an  impulse, 
and  not  flesh  and  bones,  it  failed  to 
endure  the  repression. 


30  Music  and  Its  Masters 

Although  these  ancient  scientific  trea- 
tises afford  no  clues  to  the  actual  spirit 
and  form  of  contemporaneous  musical 
utterances,  they  do  bespeak  the  presence 
of  interest  and  respect.  As  I  have 
shown,  this  condition  was  of  no  service 
in  China,  but  as  the  Egyptian  and  Greek 
people  and  culture  were  of  a  quite  dif- 
ferent substance  and  mould,  we  may 
safely  infer  that  their  efforts  were  im- 
portant features  in  this  preparatory 
era. 

The  light  which  we  are  enabled  to 
throw  backward  over  the  line  of  musical 
evolution  is  drawn  from  the  following 
sources  :  i,  the  nature  of  music  itself, 
and  the  first  purposeful  use  of  its  germs  ; 
2,  its  present  condition  among  barbarous 
peoples ;  3,  profane  history  of  ancient 
Egypt ;  4,  its  development  in  pace  with 
that  of  the  Aryan  race ;  and,  5,  Biblical 
references  (to  which  I  shall  devote  a 
separate  chapter). 


Music  and  Its  Masters  31 

NATURE   OF   MUSIC 

It  is  a  gross  misconception  to  regard 
music  as  merely  a  ''concord  of  sweet 
sounds,"  for  that  would  be  a  barren 
art  which  had  no  contrasting  features. 
Much  great  music  is  not  beautiful,  for 
it  may  be  tragical,  sombre,  or  may 
voice  any  of  the  moods  incident  to  life. 
Euphony  was  doubtless  one  of  the  last 
developed  qualities,  for  it  springs  from 
joy,  love,  or  reverence.  We  must  look 
among  the  coarser  emotions  for  the 
germ  which  was  first  used  in  tone  ex- 
pression. 

In  that  prehistoric  time,  at  the  begin- 
ning of  what  might  be  called  soul  ten- 
antry, man,  whether  created  or  evolved, 
being  the  first  of  his  line,  had  no  fruits 
of  human  experience  to  guide  him,  and 
his  emotional  status  could  therefore  have 
differed  little  from  that  of  the  higher 
grades  of  soulless  creatures.     We  learn 


32  Music  and  Its  Masters 

from  history  that  since  it  began  its  an- 
nals animal  nature  has  remained  vir- 
tually unchanged,  whereas  man,  because 
possessed  of  a  higher  grade  of  intellect 
and  a  definite  recognition  of  Deity,  in 
one  form  or  another,  has  refined  and 
broadened  the  scope  of  his  impulses  and 
understanding.  As  it  is  the  first  sub- 
jective, and  not  objective,  manifestation 
of  tone  expression  that  we  are  seeking, 
we  cannot  do  better  than  to  scan  this 
feature  of  animal  life. 

Such  manifestations  result  from  the 
sequential  co-operation  of  emotion,  rea- 
son, and  impulse.  Animals  have  their 
growls,  roars,  and  trumpetings  of  anger 
and  defiance,  and  many  of  them  have 
forms  of  expressing  affection,  but  these 
latter  are  acquired  through  experi- 
ence, whereas  they  instinctively  appeal 
to  agencies  outside  themselves  for  relief 
from  pain  or  want,  employing  means 
the  efficacy  of  which  they  recognize.     If 


Music  and  Its  Masters  33 

we  turn  to  humankind,  we  find  that 
the  new-born  babe  will  express  its  de- 
sire for  food  long  before  it  becomes 
responsive  to  its  mother's  endear- 
ments. 

I,  therefore,  assume  that  pleading  was 
the  first  purposeful,  premeditated  form 
of  tonal  communication,  and,  conse- 
quently, that  it  was  the  nucleus  about 
which  experience  and  culture  have  gath- 
ered such  ample  resources.  (This  term, 
tonal  communication,  applies  equally 
well  to  our  formulated  art,  for  music  is 
invariably  addressed  by  its  creator  to 
some  intelligence,  whether  it  be  a  per- 
son, the  world,  or  God.) 

This  first  developed  element  has  never 
relinquished  its  prominence,  for  it  is  the 
mood  which  most  often  pervades  the 
composer's  tone  pictures.  We  find  it 
depicted,  as  prompted  by  each  and  all 
phases  of  human  insufficiency,  appealing 
to  appropriate  sources  for  relief, — the 
3 


34  Music  and  Its  Masters 

oppressed  entreating  the  tyrant,  the 
lover  the  object  of  his  affection,  and  the 
finite  world,  prostrate  before  Infinity, 
pouring  its  hopes  and  aspirations  into 
the  Divine  ear. 

Now  occurs  a  period  of  unmeasur- 
able  time  upon  which  we  can  throw  no 
light.  It  extends  from  this  first  mani- 
festation up  to  that  stage  in  evolution 
which  produced  forms  of  tonal  expres- 
sion like  those  now  employed  by  the 
lowest  savage  races.  Some  time  during 
this  unexplorable  period,  man  having 
appropriated  a  fuller  vocabulary  from 
nature's  store,  and  having  adopted  more 
sustained,  and  at  the  same  time  articu- 
late, forms,  was  led  to  feel  pulsations, — 
incipient  rhythm.  Whether  this  primi- 
tive conception  of  metre  was  suggested 
by  associated  word  successions,  or  was 
incident  to  the  extension  of  tonal  ex- 
pression itself,  we  can  only  conjecture, 
but  rhythmic  impulse  is  evident  in,  and 


Music  and  Its  Masters  35 

it  is  the  main  feature   of,   the   crudest 
musical  efforts. 


MUSIC   OF   THE    SAVAGE    RACES 

Science  has  long  busied  itself  with 
race  origin.  It  has  approached  the 
problem  from  every  side,  and  has  ac- 
complished so  much  towards  its  solution 
as  to  afford  grounds  upon  which  to  base 
the  assumptions  that  the  diverse  types 
of  mankind,  as  they  now  exist,  are  each 
physically,  morally,  and  mentally  the 
outcome  of  conditions  of  which  climate, 
soil,  and  degrees  of  isolation  have  been 
the  most  potent  factors  ;  and  that  these 
branches  which  have  spread  out  to  cover 
the  world  spring  from  one  common 
family  trunk.  Even  within  the  limits 
of  historic  time  migrations  have  been 
caused  either  by  climatic  changes  or  by 
the  dissensions  incident  to  over-popu- 
lation. 

When  the  savages  of  the  South  Sea 


36  Music  and  Its  Masters 

Islands  became  detached,  and  whether 
of  their  own  voHtion  or  through  a  dis- 
pensation of  Providence,  which  caused 
the  Pacific  Ocean  to  isolate  them  from 
less  pestiferous  humanity,  will  never  be 
known.  It  must,  however,  have  taken 
place  after  the  idea  of  at  least  limited 
tone  expression  had  taken  a  firm  hold 
on  mankind  and  had  become  a  transmit- 
tible  instinct,  for  these  savages  evince 
little  more  disposition  or  capacity  for 
originating  than  the  more  intelligent 
species  of  animals.  I  cite  these  people 
and  their  lyric  status  to  mark  the  lowest 
ebb  in  things  human  and  musical  of 
which  we  have  any  knowledge. 

Their  music  and  habits  are  alike 
crossed  by  the  line  which  separates  the 
human  from  the  animal,  and  it  is  need- 
less to  say  which  quality  contributes  the 
larger  portion.  Their  songs  are,  like 
their  language,  ejaculatory,  showing  little 
exercise  of  reason  in  their  forms,  and 


Music  and  Its  Masters  37 

voicing  the  baser  emotions  solely.  Rude 
rhythms  are  the  only  features  that  attest 
their  origin  in  musical  impulse.  Music 
in  its  course  of  evolution  had  neces- 
sarily to  pass  through  this  primitive 
stage.  In  more  congenial  environments 
it  passed  on  and  out,  but  these  bar- 
barians, being  neither  emotionally  nor 
intellectually  capable  of  imparting  the 
impetus  requisite  to  the  development  of 
finer  and  broader  significance,  have  for 
thousands  of  years  used  their  present 
crude  forms.  Their  stage  comes  in 
touch  with  music's  line  of  evolution  at 
a  period  countless  years  before  David 
sang. 

From  a  letter  in  response  to  my  in- 
quiries as  to  the  musical  status  of  these 
barbarians,  written  by  Count  Pfeil,  who 
has  most  closely  observed  their  customs 
during  twenty  years  spent  in  exploring 
the  dark  continent  and  these  darker 
islands,  I  infer  that  their  barbarism  has 


38  Music  and  Its  Masters 

grades  analogous  to  those  that  exist  in 
the  culture  of  civilized  nations. 

In  speaking  of  the  two  musical  instru- 
ments in  use  Graf  Pfeil  says,  ''They 
are  the  '  Tutupele'  on  New  Britain  and 
Duke  of  York,  and  a  sort  of  pan  pipe 
or  flute  on  the  Solomon  Islands.  The 
former  may  hardly  be  called  an  instru- 
ment. It  is  used  in  connection  with  the 
superstitious  ceremonies  of  the  Dult- 
Dult  practice,  and  is  supposed  to  herald 
the  appearance  of  the  spirits.  Two 
pieces  of  wood  are  carved  down  till  they 
sound  two  neighboring  notes,  such  as 
c-d,  g-a,  or  f-g.  They  are  then  placed 
over  a  little  hollow  dug  in  the  ground,  and 
are  beaten  with  small  club  sticks.  .  .  . 

"  The  other  instrument  is  used  by  the 
Solomon  Islanders.  They  assemble  three 
or  four  men,  each  armed  with  his  flute, 
of  which  the  largest  pipe  is  about  three 
feet  in  length,  with  a  two-inch  internal 
diameter.     There  are  five  of  these  pipes 


Music  and  Its  Masters  39 

in  each  instrument.  They  are  made  of 
bamboo,  and  played  by  being  raised  to 
the  lips  and  strongly  blown  into.  The 
sound,  especially  when  heard  from  a  long 
distance,  which  robs  it  of  its  harshness, 
is  not  at  all  unpleasant,  but  has  rather  a 
melodious,  though  sad,  character.  The 
few  men  who  play  these  instruments 
begin  turning  round  and  round,  and 
others,  wishing  to  join  in  the  dance, 
gather  round  them,  also  moving  in  a 
circle.  When  a  hundred  dancers  per- 
form, those  on  the  outside  run  at  a  head- 
long speed,  while  those  forming  the 
centre  spin,  but  very  slowly.  The  dan- 
cers accompany  the  players  by  very 
curious  half- whistling  sounds,  which 
sound  like  the  twitter  of  birds.  The 
louder  and  shriller  the  sounds  the  prettier 
they  are  thought  to  be.  .  .  . 

"  On  the  Duke  of  York,  boys  have  a 
curious,  cruel  way  of  procuring  music. 
They  take  a   large   beetle    and   break 


40  Music  and  Its  Masters 

off  one  of  its  legs.  In  the  remaining 
stump  they  push  a  lot  of  elastic  gum,  of 
which  they  hold  the  other  end.  The 
beetle  is  now  made  to  fly,  but  not  be- 
ing able  to  get  away  from  the  boy's 
hand,  keeps  circling  round  and  round  it, 
emitting  a  loud  whirring  or  humming 
sound.  .  .  . 

*'A11  these  races  sing.  Their  songs 
are  very  monotonous,  but  are  defined, 
like  our  own.  You  can  ask  them  to  sing 
such  or  such  a  song,  and  they  will  always 
sing  it  exactly  as  they  sang  it  before. 
All  songs  are  sung  in  a  subdued  voice, 
as  the  melancholy  and  suspicious  char- 
acter of  the  people  prevents  all  loud 
demonstrations  of  mirth.  ...  I  have 
never  heard  their  songs  accompanied  by 
any  instrument,  excepting  at  a  dance, 
when,  to  my  sorrow,  combined  vocal  and 
instrumental  efforts  served  as  an  accom- 
paniment to  the  dance." 

The  North  American  Indians,  despite 


Music  and  Its  Masters  41 

the  demoralizing  influences  of  traders, 
agencies,  and  fire-water,  are  noble  men 
as  compared  with  the  cannibals  just  con- 
sidered. Many  of  their  less  amiable 
traits  are  doubtless  the  fruits  of  white 
Intruders'  avarice,  which  has  from  the 
first  set  aside  equity  when  dealing  with 
the  red  man.  They  live  having  a  future 
state  in  view  in  the  happy  hunting- 
grounds,  which  stimulates  in  them  a 
strict,  but  not  too  comprehensive,  moral 
consciousness.  Those  conditions  of  life 
which  mould  race  characteristics  have  in 
the  case  of  the  North  American  Indian 
developed  bodily  activity,  close  observa- 
tion, bravery,  and  reasoning  faculties, 
though  crude.  They  lack  delicate  sensi- 
bility and  imagination,  but  still  in  them 
we  find  nomadic  manhood  at  its  best, 
and  their  music  mirrors  their  character. 
Their  war,  funeral,  and  joyous  songs 
are  alike  monotonous  to  modern  Aryan 
ears,  for  they  are  devoid  of  romance  and 


42  Music  and  Its  Masters 

fine  feeling,  and  are  composed  of  repe- 
titions ad  libitum,  instead  of  progressive 
developments.  Their  climaxes  are  pro- 
duced through  increased  unction  in  de- 
livery rather  than  through  sequential 
means.  They  mark  the  primary  pulsa- 
tions of  their  songs  through  swaying  the 
body,  dancing,  and  through  the  use  of 
rude  instruments,  and  in  so  doing  work 
themselves  up  to  a  remarkable  state  of 
exaltation.  This  result  of  their  musical 
exercises  must  not  be  construed  as  indi- 
cating the  presence  of  a  strong,  emo- 
tional element  in  the  Indian  character. 
They  are,  on  the  contrary,  so  stolid  that 
few  things  can  ruffle  their  equanimity. 
Their  ecstasies  are  purposeful  and  self- 
induced. 

Their  phenomenal  capacity  for  reading 
and  interpreting  nature's  chronicle  of 
the  movements  of  living  things,  and  its 
continual  exercise,  have  blinded  them, 
in   a  great   degree,  to  the  beauties  of 


Music  and  Its  Masters  43 

landscape.  They  devote  themselves  to 
the  analysis  of  details  instead  of  to  the 
contemplation  of  the  Creator's  harmo- 
nious ensemble,  and  they  consequently 
develop  little  sense  for  the  beautiful. 
The  fundamental  manifestation  of  this 
sense  is,  in  normally  endowed  man,  an 
appreciation  of  the  forms  and  colors  of 
material  things.  Upon  this  sense  we 
may  build  responsiveness  to  the  intangi- 
ble and  ideal,  but  without  it  we  have  no 
foundation  for  aesthetic  taste.  I  can  think 
of  nothing  more  incongruous  than  an 
atmosphere  of  Bach  fugues  or  Beethoven 
symphonies  for  a  man  who  sees  only 
tons  of  hay,  feet  of  lumber,  water-power, 
etc.,  while  gazing  upon  nature's  grand 
panorama.  The  music  of  the  North 
American  Indian  is  neither  euphonious 
nor  romantic,  but  it  is  distinctly  more  hu- 
man than  that  of  the  South  Sea  Islanders, 
and  its  varying  tribal  phases  permit  the 
inference  that  it  has,  in  their  keeping, 


44  Music  and  Its  Masters 

accumulated   resources,   however  slight 
they  may  seem. 

The  Indian's  character  and  music 
throw  light  upon  the  course  of  evolution 
during  the  first  era,  inasmuch  as  they, 
contrasted  with  those  of  the  cannibal 
races,  tend  to  substantiate  my  claim  that 
sound  expression  takes  its  cue  from 
attendant  culture,  advancing  in  pace 
with  it. 

PROFANE    HISTORY   OF   ANCIENT   EGYPT 

At  that  remotest  period  upon  which 
the  historian  can  throw  light  (about 
3000  B.C.)  the  Valley  of  the  Nile  was 
the  scene  of  undertakings  the  fruits  of 
which  have  ever  since  excited  the  won- 
der of  the  world.  The  Pyramids,  the 
somewhat  later-built  Palace  of  Karnak, 
and  Temples  of  Luxor  and  Ipsambul 
stand  first  among  the  phenomenal  con- 
ceptions of  human  architects ;  and  the 
mechanical  skill  required  in  handling  the 


Music  and  Its  Masters  45 

massive  blocks  and  pillars  of  which  they 
are  composed  would  severely  test  the 
appliances  of  our  practical  and  inventive 
age.  These  monumental  buildings,  their 
consistent  environments,  and  the  de- 
ciphered records  of  scientific  and  literary 
accomplishments  in  those  earliest  his- 
toric times,  bespeak  broad  culture.  As 
we  possess  no  record  of  a  race  from 
whom  the  Egyptians  could  have  drawn 
either  stimulus  or  knowledge  itself,  their 
culture  was  presumably  indigenous,  and 
therefore  of  slow  growth.  The  Palace 
of  Karnak,  for  instance,  marks  the  cli- 
max of  accomplishment  in  a  line  of 
architectural  endeavor  which  may  have 
begun  soon  after  the  Nile  commenced 
making  her  alluvial  deposits. 

The  persistent  and  audacious  ambition 
which  this  long  course  of  development 
attests,  and  the  art  feeling  expressed 
in  their  works,  endows  Egyptian  inter- 
est in   music,  as   evinced  through   the 


46  Music  and  Its  Masters 

scientific  treatises  mentioned  at  the  be- 
ginning of  this  chapter,  with  especial 
significance.  They  were  more  learned 
and  less  pedantic  than  the  Chinese,  and 
were,  besides,  emotional  and  imaginative, 
although  sadly  superstitious.  Had  that 
high  enlightenment  permeated  all  classes 
of  the  people,  Egypt  would  have  been 
an  Elysium  for  our  art,  but  it  was,  un- 
fortunately, confined  to  the  upper  social 
grades,  which  embraced  the  priests,  and 
to  a  certain  extent  the  warriors. 

The  masses,  in  company  with  pris- 
oners of  war  and  slaves  from  Central 
Africa,  were  mere  servitors  to  the  mon- 
archs  and  priests  in  executing  their  am- 
bitious schemes.  Although  their  labor 
built  up  indubitable  testimony  to  the 
greatness  of  their  masters,  the  bur- 
dens imposed  upon  them  century  after 
century  finally  wore  away  their  fealty  ; 
therefore  the  decadence  and  downfall  of 
great  Egypt.     There  could  not  possibly 


Music  and  Its  Masters  47 

have  been  anything  Hke  art  enthusiasm 
among  a  people  so  oppressed.  Despite 
this  vital  lack,  ancient  Egypt  did  more, 
directly  and  indirectly,  to  foster  music, 
and  to  give  it  an  onward  impulse,  than 
all  other  agencies  of  the  first  era  com- 
bined. This  was  somewhat  attributable 
to  the  fact  that  then,  for  the  first  time, 
tone  expression  was  associated  with 
rhythmic  texts  ;  still,  I  infer  that  their 
music  was  merely  an  accessory  to  eu- 
phonious declamation, — subservient  to 
poetry, — for  had  their  melodies  pos- 
sessed independent  import,  those  re- 
sourceful people  would  have  found  some 
way  of  recording  them.  These  rela- 
tions between  music  and  poetry  were 
perpetuated  in  Greece  ;  indeed,  our  art 
was  not  accorded  equality  as  a  contrib- 
utive  element  in  song  until  in  quite 
modern  times.  There  have  been  sev- 
eral distinct  epochs  in  this  relationship, — 
viz.,  that  in  which  tone  expression,  be- 


48  Music  and  Its  Masters 

cause  of  its  little  understood  capacities, 
was  held  in  vassalage  to  her  sister  art ; 
music's  equality  (dating  from  the  adop- 
tion of  notation),  during  which  she  greatly 
extended  and  beautified  her  forms  ;  her 
ascendency,  which  characterized  the 
vocal  works  of  the  early  part  of  the 
present  century  ;  and  now  the  Wagner 
school,  in  which  the  two  are  again  made 
to  collaborate  on  equal  terms. 

The  ancient  Egyptians  employed  pan 
pipes,  flutes,  horns,  instruments  of  per- 
cussion, and  small  harps.  Mural  pict- 
ures of  the  fourth  dynasty  represent 
players  blowing  upon  pipes  of  different 
lengths,  and  consequently  of  different 
pitches,  which  is  a  dumb  declaration 
that  at  least  some  principles  regulating 
the  simultaneous  use  of  tones  had  been 
recognized.  Outside  this  pictorial  record, 
we  can  find  no  intimation  that  anything 
analogous  to  modern  harmony  was 
known   and   practised    by   this   people. 


Music  and  Its  Masters  49 

In  the  absence  of  specific  data  we  are 
forced  to  predicate  the  condition  of 
music  in  that  stupendous,  though  exclu- 
sive, civilization,  upon  the  elements  of 
the  atmosphere  from  which  it  drew  its 
impulse.  As  the  more  prominent  of 
these  elements  were  profound  religious 
feeling,  scientific  learning,  insatiable  am- 
bition, and  a  clearly  pronounced  lyric 
tendency,  their  melodies  must  have  been 
coherent  and  expressive. 

ARYAN    RACE 

As  the  instincts  and  capacities  of  the 
Aryan  race  have  always  been  unique,  it 
may  prove  instructive  to  glance  at  those 
features  of  its  prehistoric  existence  in 
Asia  which  have  been  brought  to  light 
through  comparative  philology  and 
mythology.  In  the  first  place,  these 
sciences  establish  the  fact  that  we  of  the 
West  (Greeks,  Italians,  Germans,  Eng- 
lish) and  the  Hindoos  of  the  East  are 

4 


50  Music  and  Its  Masters 

of  common  origin.  Our  ancestors  lis- 
tened to  the  same  legends,  ballads,  and 
mythical  tales  while  gathered  as  children 
about  one  and  the  same  mother,  and 
they  have  handed  them  down  to  this 
generation  of  the  descendants  of  each  so 
little  changed  as  to  furnish  ample  proof 
of  family  relationship.  Many  of  the 
more  important  words  of  the  various 
Aryan  languages  are  suggestively  simi- 
lar, and  this  in  spite  of  the  five  thou- 
sand years  of  transmission,  and  of 
the  diverse  conditions  incident  to  the 
growth  of  widely  separated  clans  into 
great  nations. 

The  Aryans  were  worshippers  of 
Nature  in  her  more  spectacular  and 
heroic  forms  and  moods, — in  storms, 
fire,  sunset,  and  dawn,  but  looked  up- 
ward for  their  Supreme  Deity.  The 
sky,  with  its  fathomless  depths  of  blue 
and  its  star  mysteries,  was  their  Zeus. 
From  this  it  will  be  seen  that  they  were, 


Music  and  Its  Masters  51 

in  a  way,  idolaters,  but  their  idolatry 
was  not  degrading  ;  it  was,  indeed,  en- 
nobling. They  contemplated  Nature, 
and  in  her  processes  saw  the  hand  of 
an  all-pervading,  beneficent  power, — a 
God.  They  worshipped  the  God  thus, 
and  in  no  other  way,  revealed  to  them 
through  His  works. 

Their  conceptions  of  family  and  com- 
munity organization  have  served,  and 
still  serve,  as  models  to  civilized  nations. 
They  were  paternal,  the  clans  being 
large  families  with  patriarchal  heads, 
and  elected  councillors.  They  were 
pastoral,  cultivating  the  soil  and  herding 
cattle,  sheep,  horses,  and  pigs  ;  but  they 
were  at  the  same  time  good  warriors. 
They  wore  leathern  shoes,  garments 
woven  from  wool,  and  they  had  at 
least  a  rudimentary  knowledge  of  the 
sciences. 

From  all  this  I  infer  that  the  early 
Aryans  were   a   race   of    freemen,    not 


52  Music  and  Its  Masters 

subject  to  the  class  discrimination  that 
ruined  Egypt. 

Their  appreciation  of  nature,  and  their 
reverence,  ambition,  and  pertinacity  fitted 
them  to  become  the  especial  guardians 
of  the  arts,  and  their  comparative  class 
equality  enabled  them  to  fulfil  the  re- 
quirements of  my  theory  that  music  can 
only  flourish  in  a  widely  diffused  inter- 
est and  knowledge.  It  must  breathe  a 
genial  and  suggestive  atmosphere. 

Our  main  business  is  with  Aryan 
music  after  it  came  under  the  influence 
of  Egyptian  culture,  but  it  may  interest 
my  readers  to  flash,  for  a  moment,  the 
light  of  analogy  back  upon  its  earlier 
period.  We  have  found  the  early 
Aryans  less  learned  than  the  Egyptian 
scholar  class,  but  also  less  superstitious 
and  less  pedantic.  They  were  normal 
human  beings  in  their  occupations,  sus- 
ceptibilities, and  social  life.  With  such 
a  picture  in  view  it  is  quite  natural  for 


Music  and  Its  Masters  53 

our  imaginations  to  hear  its  complement 
in  expressive  sounds, — peaceful  lullabies, 
songs  of  praise  and  love,  and  sonorous 
rejoicings. 

In  remote  times  the  region  which 
is  supposed  to  have  been  the  original 
home  of  the  Aryans  must  have  been  fer- 
tile, for  early  poets  were  enthusiastic  in 
describing  its  charms.  The  climatic 
changes  that  made  the  soil  arid  as  it  is 
to-day  may  have  suggested,  or  may 
even  have  necessitated,  migration  ;  still, 
what  condition  or  combination  of  con- 
ditions induced  the  Aryans  to  abandon 
Central  Asia  can  never  be  positively 
known ;  but  it  is  certain  that  they,  like 
irresistible  tidal  waves,  rolled  westward 
and  southward,  destroying,  carrying  be- 
fore them,  or  absorbing  and  dominating 
all  peoples  and  institutions  in  their  course. 

One  of  the  streams  of  Aryan  migra- 
tion flowed  towards  the  south  and  formed 
the  Hindoo  and  Persian  nations,  and  an- 


54  Music  and  Its  Masters 

other  came  into  Europe  by  way  of  the 
Hellespont  and  took  up  its  abode  in 
Greece  and  Italy.  Three  others,  the 
Celtic,  Teutonic,  and  Slavonic,  followed 
in  the  order  named,  passing  to  the  north 
of  the  Black  Sea,  and  occupied  respec- 
tively Western,  Central,  and  Eastern 
Europe. 

Of  all  the  nations  who  have  developed 
from  these  original  nuclei,  the  Hindoos 
show  least  evidence  of  close  intercourse 
with  the  world's  great  teacher,  whereas 
the  Greeks,  perhaps  because  of  their 
proximity  to  Egypt,  were  led  to  avail 
themselves  of  her  tuition  to  the  fullest 
extent. 

The  ancient  Hindoos  were  less  scien- 
tific than  the  Chinese  or  Egyptians,  and 
isolation  has  prevented  them  from  ad- 
vancing with  modern  civilization.  Their 
music  is  less  the  fruit  of  theories  than  it 
is  of  natural  Aryan  impulse.  They  do 
not  look  upon  it  as  a  science,  but  as  ^ 


Music  and  Its  Masters  55 

matter  of  the  emotions,  the  result  of, 
and  intended  to  quicken,  the  imagination. 
I  have  seen  Hindoo  melodies  which  ex- 
hibited a  correct  appreciation  of  rhythmic 
adjustment,  still  their  accomplishments 
do  not  entitle  them  to  a  place  among 
the  potent  factors  in  musical  evolution. 

Now  we  come  to  the  climax  of  our 
first  era.  Such  a  true  conception  of 
beauty,  such  perfect  symmetry,  and  such 
far-reaching  imagination  and  lofty  as- 
piration as  are  present  in,  and  have 
made  ancient  Greek  art  and  literature 
luminous  for  all  time,  bespeak  conditions 
that  would  have  carried  music  to  fruition 
during  their  continuance  had  she  not 
been  so  intangible,  and  therefore  neces- 
sarily slow  in  developing.  Had  her 
nature  been  less  coy,  we  might  have 
ancient  Greek  music  as  monumental  as 
the  Iliad  or  the  Parthenon. 

The  Greeks  were  quick  to  recognize 
the  virtues  of  Egyptian   learning,   and 


56  Music  and  Its  Masters 

Greece  soon  became  great  Egypt's 
greater  pupil.  Still,  we  should  accord 
Egypt  first  place  among  the  factors 
that  built  up  modern  civilization  and  led 
to  the  formulation  of  musical  art,  for  she 
originated  the  vital  impulse. 

That  period  of  Greek  culture  su- 
premacy dispensed  no  laurels  to  its 
mothers,  wives,  and  daughters.  Woman 
was  regarded  as  an  inferior  being,  and 
she  took  no  honorable  part  in  intellectual 
social  life.  Boys  were  exhaustively  edu- 
cated, while  girls  were  neglected.  This 
was  the  one  blot  on  the  glory  of  those 
times,  and  we,  besides  deprecating  the 
injustice  it  involved,  must  regret  that 
these  ancient  art-workers  denied  them- 
selves that  highest  earthly  source  of 
inspiration,  intercourse  with  the  deli- 
cate enthusiasm,  the  keen  perceptions, 
and  art  instinct  of  educated  and  loved 
womanhood ;  for  to  what  heights  might 
their  achievements  have  attained  but  for 


Music  and  Its  Masters  57 

this  misconception  of  woman's  nature 
and  capacities  ! 

One  would  think  that  Sappho's 
lyrics,  which  induced  Plato  to  call  her 
the  "Tenth  Muse,"  would  have  sug- 
gested the  existence,  in  woman's  purer 
and  more  sensitive  nature,  of  a  subtle 
vein  of  beautiful  intellectuality,  but  such 
was  not  the  case.  Judging  from  what 
we  have  seen  of  early  Aryan  family 
life,  this  unpractical  and  debasing  idea 
of  suppressing  woman  must  have  been 
imbibed  with  Egyptian  learning. 

Music  was  taught  in  the  Greek 
schools,  and  youths  were  thus  fitted  to 
join  in  the  sacred  choruses,  and  to  ap- 
preciate the  significance  of  poetry.  The 
immortal  bards  sang  their  creations,  and 
they  often  remained  unwritten  for  gen- 
erations. The  drama  developed  from 
songs  and  dances.  Music  was  a  promi- 
nent feature  of  their  symposiums,  the 
lyre  being  passed  from  guest  to  guest, 


58  Music  and  Its  Masters 

each  contributing  of  his  best  to  the  in- 
tellectual feast.  Banquets  were  brought 
to  a  close  by  singing  hymns.  Music  per- 
vaded each  function  of  Hellenic  life. 

Their  choruses  were  unisons,  and 
their  instrumental  accompaniments  were 
either  purely  rhythmic  (regardless  of 
pitch)  or  they  followed  the  voice,  for 
the  Greeks  had  no  discoverable  concep- 
tion of  harmony.  In  contemplating  the 
marvellous  erudition  and  the  poetic 
sense  of  ancient  Greece,  and  the  im- 
portant role  played  by  music  in  the 
period  of  her  glory,  I  can  but  feel  that 
the  failure  to  chronicle  her  melodies  is 
a  misfortune.  They  may  not  have  been 
rich  in  variety  of  tone  succession  or  in 
rhythm,  but  they  doubtless  were  vigor- 
ous, expressive,  and  logically  rounded, 
and  they  therefore  mark  the  brightest 
point  reached  in  the  first  era. 

Greece  succeeded  Egypt  as  the 
world's  teacher,  and  her  precepts  gain 


Music  and  Its  Masters  59 

significance  as  advancing  culture  en- 
ables us  to  better  comprehend  the  fine 
adjustment  of  imagination  to  nature 
which  they  embody.  Her  sculpture, 
architecture,  and  literature  are  the  high- 
est models  that  we  have,  and  those  of 
our  architects  who  appreciate  the  import 
of  monumental  buildings  look  to  ancient 
Greece  for  appropriate  inspiration. 

Is  it  not  reasonable  and  logical  to  as- 
sume that  the  spirit  of  Greece's  unwrit- 
ten musical  forms  has  been  preserved, 
passed  from  nation  to  nation,  and  from 
generation  to  generation,  and  that  it 
underlies  our  present  classical  school  ? 
I  say  spirit  in  speaking  of  musical  trans- 
mission, for  music's  resources  and  out- 
ward forms  were,  in  the  Homeric  period, 
and  still  are,  in  course  of  development. 

It  would  be  a  waste  of  space  to  dis- 
cuss the  musical  doings  of  other  Euro- 
pean nations  during  this  period.  Those 
that  did  least  to  prepare  the  way  have 


6o  Music  and  Its  Masters 

been  most  active  since  our  art  took 
shape.  As  great  as  Italy's  services  have 
been  since  the  sixteenth  century  (a.d.), 
she  did  little  for  music  previous  to  that 
time.  St.  Ambrose,  of  Milan  (384  a.d.), 
and  St.  Gregory,  of  Rome  (590  a.d.), 
ordained  rituals,  prayers,  music,  etc.,  but 
there  is  no  detailed  record  of  their 
achievements,  therefore  no  authentic 
Gregorian  chants. 


CHAPTER    III 

BIBLICAL    MENTION    OF    MUSIC 

i^  I  'HE  Old  Testament  is  a  chron- 
§  I  icle  of  the  growth,  movements, 
physical  and  mental  habits,  and 
religious  status  of  the  great  Jewish  race. 
Its  religion  with  one  Godhead,  whose 
immediate  presence  was  often  felt,  its 
music  addressed  to  this  presence,  and 
its  family,  tribal,  and  racial  organizations 
were  all  Jewish.  The  great  moving 
lever  of  Jewish  existence  was  a  religion 
whose  creed  prohibited  the  making  of 
"graven  images,"  so  painting  and 
sculpture  were  not  cultivated  ;  it  recog- 
nized the  direct  agency  of  supreme  will 
in  moulding  daily  events,  and  prescribed 
oft-repeated  praise  and  prayer,  and  thus 
created  the  atmosphere  of  exalted  devo- 

6i 


62  Music  and  Its  Masters 

tional  feeling  which  we  find  recorded 
in  many  of  the  books  of  the  Bible,  and 
which  climaxed  in  David's  Psalms. 

The  ancient  Hebrews  were  in  no 
measure  a  scientific  people.  Their  one 
intellectual  aspiration  found  vent  in 
beautifying  the  worship  of  God.  They 
were  religious  teachers,  who  have  di- 
rectly or  indirectly  shaped  the  creeds  of 
the  civilized  world. 

According  to  the  conditions  upon 
which  I  have  thus  far  based  my  theories 
of  musical  evolution,  early  Jewish  songs 
could  not  have  been  equal,  in  artistic 
merit,  to  the  texts  with  which  they  were 
associated,  for  there  was  an  utter  lack, 
in  this  race,  of  such  general  culture  and 
art  sense  as  we  found  prevailing  in  an- 
cient Egypt ;  but  the  Hebrews  were  a 
race  apart,  and  their  unique  instincts 
may  have  made  their  music  an  excep- 
tion to  all  rules. 

Their  song-impulse  was   confined  to 


Music  and  Its  Masters  63 

one  line,  but  it  was  so  strong  that 
it  projected  itself  from  conception,  in 
religious  enthusiasm,  to  a  high  grade 
of  fulfilment  without  touching  the  low 
plane  of  their  general  culture  ;  neverthe- 
less, the  above-mentioned  shortcomings 
and  the  subsequent  decadence  of  race 
nationality  relegate  Hebrew  music  to  a 
low  place  as  an  influence  upon  the 
world's  song. 

They  had  men  who  devoted  them- 
selves to  the  playing  of  instruments  as 
an  accompaniment  to  song,  and  the 
Bible  mentions  more  varieties  of  instru- 
ments than  can  be  found  in  profane  his- 
tory of  those  times.  Worship  was  such 
an  important  feature  of  Jewish  life,  and 
praise  was  so  essential  an  element  in 
their  worship,  that  the  masses  must  have 
learned  and  sung  those  great  lyrics 
which  to-day  represent  the  culmination 
of  human  awe,  reverence,  prayer,  and 
thanksgiving.     It  is   impossible   to  im- 


64  Music  and  Its  Masters 

aglne  David  singing  his  Psalms  to  crude 
or  inadequate  musical  settings. 

Here  we  have  a  situation  apparently 
full  of  vital  contradictions.  Most  of  the 
influences  which  have  proven  themselves 
necessary  to  the  development  of  music 
were  wanting,  and  still  there  is  evidence 
that  it  had  grown  to  be  an  expressive 
means.  The  Jews  were  actuated  by 
profound  religious  feeling  and  by  an 
exquisite  sense  of  nature's  forms.  No 
poet  has  yet  equalled  David's  simple 
but  beautiful  appreciation  of  the  uni- 
verse, and  of  its  influence  upon  man- 
kind. 

The  Jews  of  Poland,  Spain,  and  Ger- 
many have  diverse  musical  settings  of 
the  Psalms,  so  there  is  no  traceable 
line  of  inheritance  from  David.  This 
line  has  been  obliterated  by  the  changes 
incident  to  generations  of  unassisted 
memory.  That  there  may  be  rare  ex- 
ceptions to  this  rule  of  change  in  form 


Music  and  Its  Masters  65 

during  extended  oral  transmission  was 
abundantly  proven  recently  by  a  Ger- 
man Hebrew  musician  and  scholar.  He 
played  me  an  unwritten  Passover  hymn 
which  his  father  had  always  sung  at  that 
festival  time,  and  told  me  that  he  had 
not  long  before  been  entertained  by  a 
Spanish  Hebrew,  who  sang  the  same 
melody  tone  for  tone.  This  gentle- 
man's hearing  and  memory  are  so  ab- 
solute that  there  is  no  question  to  be 
raised  as  to  this  case ;  but  as  far  as 
my  investigations  have  gone,  it  stands 
alone. 

The  composer  of  the  nineteenth  cen- 
tury can  nowhere  else  find  such  earnest 
and  suggestive  texts  as  in  the  Old  Testa- 
ment. They  voice  the  hopes,  sorrows, 
despair,  reverence,  and  joys  of  our 
hearts  just  as  aptly  as  they  did  those  of 
the  Hebrew  bards  who  wrote  them  thou- 
sands of  years  ago.  Their  natural  and 
direct  method  of  expressing  the  emo- 
5 


66  Music  and  Its  Masters 

tions,  and  their  incomparable  elevation 
of  spirit,  make  them  appeal  especially 
strongly  to  the  musician,  whose  flights 
of  imagination  start  from  these  emo- 
tions. 

We  are  denied  the  privilege  of  scan- 
ning the  forms  and  substance  of  Biblical 
melodies  or  chants,  and  must  content 
ourselves  with  tracing  the  more  promi- 
nent features  of  the  role  which  was  as- 
signed to  music  during  that  older  era, 
and  the  mechanical  devices  which  were 
employed  to  enhance  rhythmic  precision 
and  sonority. 

Some  writers  have  endeavored  to 
solve  the  problem  presented  by  Hebrew 
music  in  the  midst  of  incongruous 
conditions  by  attributing  its  develop- 
ment to  the  influence  of  presumable 
intercourse  with  prehistoric  Egyptian 
civilization.  This  does  not  appear  logi- 
cal, for  Hebrew  music  seems  to  have 
been  little,  if  at  all,  affected  by  the  con- 


Music  and  Its  Masters  67 

tinued  direct  contact  during  the  long 
sojourn  of  the  IsraeHtes  in  Egypt. 

The  Jewish  and  Egyptian  characters 
were  so  diametrically  opposed  (as  was 
evinced  in  their  beliefs,  habits,  and  aspi- 
rations) that  their  emotional  forms  of 
expression  could  not  possibly  have  fol- 
lowed common  lines. 

Intercourse  with  Egyptians  did  not 
impart  even  a  scientific  impulse  to  the 
Hebrew  mind.  It  is  therefore  safe  to 
conclude  that  my  previously  mentioned 
hypothesis — that  the  force  of  their  im- 
pulses carried  Jewish  music  and  poetry 
to  unique  positions,  as  compared  with 
those  of  their  other  arts  and  branches 
of  learning — is  worthy  of  credence. 

The  first  mention  of  music  is  made  in 
Genesis  iv.  21.  Jubal,  the  son  of  La- 
mech  and  Adah,  is  described  as  the 
''  father  of  all  such  as  handle  the  harp 
and  organ."  Jubal  was  of  the  seventh 
generation  of  Adam's  descendants,  and 


68  Music  and  Its  Masters 

the  world  was,  according  to  Biblical 
records,  in  its  second  century  of  exist- 
ence. These  ''harps  and  organs"  were 
doubtless  similar  to  those  depicted  in 
pictures  painted  in  the  fourth  Egyptian 
dynasty.  The  first  named  were  frames 
upon  which  one  or,  at  most,  a  very  limi- 
ted number  of  strings  were  stretched, 
and  the  "organs"  were  pan-pipes  (a 
series  of  reeds  of  graded  lengths,  bound 
together,  and  played  by  blowing  into 
them  as  they  were  passed  back  and 
forth  across  the  lower  lip).  The  pan- 
pipes were  probably  played  in  unison 
with  the  voice,  whereas  the  primitive 
harp  was  used,  with  the  existing  instru- 
ments of  percussion,  to  mark  rhythms 
only. 

All  historians  agree  in  their  deduc- 
tions as  to  the  order  in  which  the  several 
classes  of  instruments  made  their  ap- 
pearance on  the  musical  stage.  As 
rhythm  is  the  heart  pulsation  of  music, 


Music  and  Its  Masters  69 

it  naturally  took  hold  of  the  first  singers 
of  in  any  measure  formulated  melody, 
leading  to  swaying  of  the  body,  clap- 
ping of  the  hands,  stamping  of  the  feet, 
and  quickly  suggested  the  employment 
of  other  resonant  means  for  marking  its 
progress.  Our  drums  were  at  first  only 
hollow  pieces  of  wood,  our  cymbals, 
triangle,  and  gong  may  have  had  double 
duties, — musical  and  culinary, — and  our 
harp  and  piano  were  anticipated  by 
single  strings  stretched  to  yield  a  sono- 
rous tone  regardless  of  pitch. 

Next  came  the  wind  instruments, — at 
first  single  reeds  blown  to  mark  rhythms, 
then  pan-pipes,  and  much  later  single 
pipes  provided  with  finger-holes  like  the 
unimproved  flute.  Last  of  all  came  the 
instruments  from  which  the  tones  are 
drawn  by  passing  a  bow  over  the  strings. 
The  idea  of  adapting  the  vibrating  length 
of  strings  to  a  desired  pitch,  through 
pressing    them   down    upon    a    finger- 


70  Music  and  Its  Masters 

board,  is  comparatively  modern.  These 
general  classes  took  on  numerous  forms 
and  were  made  from  various  materials. 

The  existence  of  Jubal  and  his  musi- 
cal line  of  descendants  bespeaks  a  wide- 
spread interest  in  and  use  of  song,  but 
Genesis  yields  no  further  enlightenment, 
no  texts,  nor  any  other  allusions  to  the 
subject  of  music. 

Exodus  XV.  furnishes  the  next  men- 
tion. The  treacherous  quicksands  of  the 
Red  Sea  having  swallowed  up  the  Egyp- 
tians, Moses  and  the  children  of  Israel 
join  in  a  song  of  rejoicing  and  thanks- 
giving to  God,  to  whose  direct  interposi- 
tion they  ascribe  their  deliverance.  The 
song  as  recorded  is  too  circumstantial 
to  have  been  spontaneous.  Moses,  in 
writing  his  account  of  the  occurrence, 
doubtless  embodied  the  sentiments 
which  burst  forth  from  the  hearts  of  his 
people  in  the  presence  of  the  event  in 
a  more  orderly  and  more  amplified  form. 


Music  and  Its  Masters  71 

The  sentiments  are  lofty,  and  the  effect 
produced  by  the  singing  of  that  vast 
chorus  of  just  rescued  was,  beyond  com- 
pare, the  grandest  focus  of  human  enthu- 
siasm that  the  world  has  witnessed  ;  for 
Moses  had  six  hundred  thousand  fight- 
ing men  alone. 

"  Miriam  the  prophetess,"  after  the 
song,  or  during  lapses  in  the  singing,  to 
incite  the  throng  to  renewed  efforts, 
''took  a  timbrel  in  her  hand  ;  and  all  the 
women  went  out  after  her  with  timbrels 
and  dancing.  And  Miriam  answered 
them.  Sing  ye  to  the  Lord,  for  He 
hath  triumphed  gloriously ;  the  horse 
and  his  rider  hath  He  thrown  into  the 
sea."  The  timbrels  were  drums,  prob- 
ably much  like  our  tambourines  in  size 
and  shape. 

The  trumpet  is  mentioned  three  times 
in  the  nineteenth  and  twentieth  chapters 
of  Exodus  in  connection  with  the  de- 
livery to  Moses  of  the  Commandments. 


72  Music  and  Its  Masters 

The  last  occasion  is  after  the  consum- 
mation of  this  universe-shaping  cere- 
mony,— viz.,  ''And  all  the  people  saw 
the  thunderings,  and  the  lightnings,  and 
the  noise  of  the  trumpet,  and  the  moun- 
tain smoking." 

The  thirty-second  and  thirty-third  chap- 
ters of  Deuteronomy  contain  one  of  the 
Bible's  most  sombre  lyrics.  Moses, 
whose  life  has  been  devoted  to  the  wel- 
fare of  the  Israelites,  who  has  for  forty 
years  struggled  to  overcome  in  them  the 
demoralization  incident  to  centuries  of 
bondage,  sings  there  a  parting  song  to 
his  people,  for  they  are  about  to  enter 
into  possession  of  the  promised  land, 
which  happiness  is  denied  him.  Could 
a  sadder  picture  be  imagined  than  this 
good  man,  so  little  confident  in  the  fruits 
of  his  past  teaching,  exhorting  the  Israel- 
ites for  the  last  time  ? 

It  would  make  my  sketch  tiresome  to 
burden  it  with  the  less  important  musical 


Music  and  Its  Masters  73 

events  chronicled  in  sacred  history,  like 
the  songs  of  Deborah,  Hannah,  etc.,  so 
I  shall  skip  four  centuries,  the  musical 
exercises  of  which  seem  to  have  been 
marked  by  no  extraordinary  occurrences, 
unless  we  accept  the  fall  of  Jericho  as 
a  musical  phenomenon. 

At  the  end  of  this  period  we  come 
upon  David,  who  might  appropriately 
be  called  the  Isaiah  of  our  art,  for  his 
songs  voice  the  conception  of  a  full,  free, 
resourceful  musical  fruition,  unmeasured 
as  yet  by  even  the  greatest  composers 
who  have  given  them  settings.  I.  Sam- 
uel xvi.  makes  the  first  mention  of 
David's  musical  capacity, — viz.,  "And 
Saul  said  unto  his  servants,  Provide  me 
now  a  man  that  can  play  well,  and 
bring  him  to  me.  .  .  .  And  it  came 
to  pass,  when  the  evil  spirit  from  God 
was  upon  Saul,  that  David  took  a  harp, 
and  played  with  his  hand :  so  Saul  was 
refreshed,    and   was   well,    and  the  evil 


74  Music  and  Its  Masters 

spirit  departed  from  him."  David's  first 
recorded  ''psalm  of  thanksgiving"  is 
in  II.  Samuel  xxii.  Its  power,  vivid  im- 
agery, and  conception  of  omnipotence 
have  never  been  surpassed  by  the  mind 
of  man.  It  is  musically  suggestive  and 
inspiring,  but  a  composer  capable  of 
grasping  its  import  might  be  awed  into 
silence,  for  our  art  is  still  feeble  to  at- 
tempt such  flights.  A  careful  reading 
of  verses  five  to  eighteen,  inclusive, 
will  yield  an  understanding  of  my  feel- 
ings in  regard  to  this  song. 

There  is  in  much  earnest  music  a  sub- 
stratum of  "ecclesiastical  tone,"  for  the 
deeper  strings  of  cultivated  human  re- 
sponsiveness are  attuned  to  worship. 
Our  relation  as  creatures  to  God,  the 
Creator,  is  the  prime  factor  in  inducing 
this  condition,  but  next  to  it  Biblical 
song  most  influences  the  trend  of  high 
musical  aspiration.  These  influences  are 
insidious,  and  their  fruits  do  not  neces- 


Music  and  Its  Masters  75 

sarily  betoken  design  on  the  part  of  the 
composer,  who  may  be  not  at  all  devout ; 
but  he,  having  imbibed,  in  common  with 
civilized  mankind,  the  spirit  of  religion, 
it  permeates,  and  to  some  extent  char- 
acterizes, his  highest  efforts. 

As  long  as  man  continues  to  write 
music  David  will  not  cease  to  be  one  of 
the  moving  levers  in  shaping  his  con- 
ceptions. This  ecclesiastical  tone,  when 
present,  does  not  usually  manifest  itself 
in  themes,  nor  in  their  contrapuntal  de- 
velopment, but  in  the  harmonic  outlines 
upon  which  these  elements  rest.  David 
is  supposed  to  have  written  the  larger 
number  of  the  one  hundred  and  fifty 
Psalms  that  have  come  down  to  us,  and 
it  may  be  interesting  to  trace  some  of 
the  musical  colors  suggested  by  his  more 
clearly  manifested  moods.  They  mirror 
the  deepest  recesses  of  his  God-fearing 
and  paternal  heart. 

The  thirteenth  Psalm  is  a  wail  of  sor- 


76  Music  and  Its  Masters 

row,  which  is  saved  from  sinking  to  de- 
spair by  David's  memory  of  past  mer- 
cies. This  latter  element  is  analogous  in 
this  case  to  the  major  harmonies  in  our 
modern  minor  keys,  which  lend  sugges- 
tions of  coming  brightness  to  our  darkest 
tone  pictures. 

In  the  nineteenth  Psalm,  which  begins, 
**The  heavens  declare  the  glory  of  God, 
and  the  firmament  sheweth  his  handi- 
work," we  find  a  spirit  of  contented  con- 
templation, for  which  these  quoted  lines 
strike  the  key-note,  and  announce  the 
theme  with  no  uncertain  sound. 

The  twenty-third  consists  of  pastoral 
similes,  which  follow  each  other  with 
quiet  but  ever-increasing  intensity.  It 
is  as  full  of  restful  confidence  and  self- 
contained  energy  as  the  slow  movement 
of  Beethoven's  Fifth  Symphony.  It  is 
too  sustained  in  its  sequential  progress 
to  afford  the  contrasts  so  essential  to 
composers   of    mediocre    ability,    which 


Music  and  Its  Masters  77 

may  account  for  the  desecrations  of 
which  it  has  been  the  subject.  Nothing 
so  tests  the  calibre  of  a  musician  as 
logically  growing  continuity.  This  Psalm 
would  have  found  an  ideal  setting  in 
Bach's  lofty  serenity. 

The  spirit  of  exultation  in  the  praise 
of  the  Almighty,  which  is  present  in 
even  the  sadder  moments  of  David's 
song,  flashing  light  through  its  doubts 
and  sorrows,  breaks  into  effulgent  glory 
in  the  ninety-eighth  Psalm,  which  has 
probably  received  more  attention  from 
composers  than  any  other  Biblical  text. 
It  has  inspired  much  wonderful  music, 
but  a  misconception  of  the  spirit  which 
prompted  the  last  verse  has  become 
traditional. 

The  psalmist  did  not  invoke  the  floods 
to  clap  their  hands,  and  the  hills  to  be 
joyful  together  before  the  Lord,  in  order 
to  propitiate  God,  but  to  express  the  joy 
he   felt   in   anticipating    the    advent   of 


78  Music  and  Its  Masters 

Him  who  should  "judge  the  people  with 
equity."  To  be  consistent,  the  com- 
poser should  set  this  sentiment  in  broad 
grandeur,  as  the  culmination  of  his 
musical  scheme. 

These  examples  will  suffice  to  illus- 
trate, in  a  superficial  way,  the  suggestive 
richness  of  David's  Psalms. 

Isaiah,  in  chapter  v.  12,  says,  ''And 
the  harp  and  the  viol,  the  tabret  and 
pipe,  and  wine,  are  in  their  feasts  ;"  in- 
deed, the  prophet  makes  repeated  refer- 
ences to  music,  but  not  in  such  manner 
as  to  endow  his  chronicle  with  special 
import  to  us. 

I  will  close  this  chapter  with  two  in- 
stances from  the  New  Testament.  The 
first  occurred  in  connection  with  the 
Lord's  Supper, — viz.,  after  the  adminis- 
tration of  the  sacrament,  and  when  they 
had  sung  a  hymn  they  went  out  into  the 
Mount  of  Olives.  This  quiet  hymn  will 
not  cease  to  echo  through  the  universe 


Music  and  Its  Masters  79 

until  we  are  enabled  to  realize  St.  John's 
vision  of  heavenly  music,  which  as  de- 
scribed in  Revelation  (fifth  chapter) 
would  form  a  fitting  climax  to  earthly 
musical  effort. 


X 


CHAPTER    IV 

MUSIC  FROM  THE  INVENTION    OF    NOTATION 
TO    DATE 

1^^  I^HE  sweep  of  events  in  this  new 
§  I  era  has  been  so  grand  in  its 
cumulative  momentum  and 
high  tendency,  that  one  is  quite  as  much 
embarrassed  by  its  richness  in  data  as 
by  the  poverty  of  the  older  period. 

At  the  opening  of  its  second  era 
music  began  to  make  history,  and  many 
painstaking  and  erudite  men  have  de- 
voted the  best  years  of  their  lives  to 
collating  her  records  ;  we  are  therefore 
amply  supplied  with  books  of  reference, 
which  fact  would  seem  to  justify  me  in 
still  further  pursuing  the  path  marked 
out  by  my  individual  impressions.  My 
deductions  and  theories  may  not  always 
80 


Music  and  Its  Masters  81 

follow  beaten  paths  ;  indeed,  I  am  only 
led  to  discuss  the  well-known  events  of 
this  era  by  the  hope  that  these  digressions 
may  afford  my  readers  new  points  of 
view,  and  thus,  perhaps,  incite  them  to 
acquire  a  more  intimate  knowledge  of 
the  nature  of  music. 

Before  commencing  our  explorations 
I  should  like  to  emphasize  the  theory 
advanced  in  Chapter  II., — ^viz.,  that  the 
progress  of  musical  evolution  is  more  or 
less  rapid  as  the  quality  of  its  culture 
environment  is  better  or  less  well  suited 
to  its  requirements.  Great  composers 
are  not  eccentric  growths,  but  they  are 
the  natural  fruits  of  the  conditions  into 
which  they  are  born  and  in  which  they 
create. 

Acorns  thrown  upon  bare  rocks  will 
decay ;  planted  in  sands  exposed  to  the 
violent  winds  from  the  sea,  they  grow 
into  gnarled  scrubs  ;  but  if  they  fall  into 
a  soil  possessing  qualities  calculated  to 


82  Music  and  Its  Masters 

expand  their  inherent  germs,  they  be- 
come noble  oaks,  differing  in  size  ac- 
cording to  the  assertive  vitality  of  their 
several  germs  and  to  the  impulses  which 
they  receive  from  earth  and  sky.  These 
conditions  also  mould  their  forms,  for 
their  branches  reach  out  for  sunlight  and 
rain  just  as  their  root-tendrils  seek  more 
substantial,  but  no  more  necessary,  sus- 
tenance. This  quest  gives  direction  to 
their  growth. 

The  forest  giants  are  like  our  Bach, 
Beethoven,  Schubert,  Schumann,  and 
Wagner ;  they,  like  these  musical  giants, 
tower  above  their  fellows.  Our  musicians 
spread  their  roots  out  into  the  past 
(into  the  knowledge  of  what  others  have 
achieved),  their  aspirations  are  warmed 
into  activity  by  the  sunlight  of  widely 
diffused  culture,  and  their  creations  take 
form  from  their  surroundings. 

To  illustrate  my  theory  :  if  Beethoven 
were  now  living  and  composing  music, 


Music  and  Its  Masters  83 

It  would  necessarily  differ  as  much  from 
that  which  he  did  produce,  in  form  and 
means,  as  our  life  conditions  and  modes 
differ  from  those  of  seventy-five  years 
ago,  for  such  a  genius  would  be  quick 
to  feel  the  presence  of  new  elements 
in  either  his  material  surroundings  or  art 
atmosphere. 

Some  of  these  new  elements  are 
helpful  to  the  composer,  while  others 
tend  to  stifle  his  spontaneity  or  to  dis- 
tort the  outlines  and  too  much  brighten 
the  colors  of  his  tone  pictures.  In  the 
first  class  I  would  put  the  universal  in- 
crease of  musical  intelligence  ;  the  me- 
chanical devices,  which,  as  applied  to  the 
organ,  piano,  and  most  of  the  orchestral 
wind  instruments,  greatly  increase  their 
efficiency ;  Berlioz's  idea  of  color  in- 
tegrity, which  has  revolutionized  orches- 
tral writing  ;  the  decrease  of  convention- 
ality in  form  ;  the  greater  intensity  in 
harmonic  successions  ;  and  the  somewhat 


84  Music  and  Its  Masters 

Bach-like  import  with  which  the  writer 
of  to-day  attempts  to  endow  the  bass 
and  middle  voices. 

At  the  head  of  the  second  class 
(harmful  elements)  I  should  place  the 
immense  practicality  of  our  age,  which 
intrudes  its  steam  ploughs  upon  our 
rural  pictures,  and,  with  its  unending 
procession  of  mechanical  innovations, 
crowds  poetic  fancy  into  dark  recesses, 
where  she  survives  but  does  not  thrive  ; 
then  comes  the  feverish  haste  to  become 
rich  or  famous,  which  so  dominates  our 
generation  as  to  disturb  the  contempla- 
tive moods  of  the  artist,  imparting  some- 
times a  suggestion  of  prosaic  utility  to 
his  creations,  and  in  other  cases  en- 
dowing them  with  incongruous  form  and 
colors  ;  and  last,  but  not  least,  comes 
the  modern  habit  of  self-introspection, 
which,  springing  from  a  laudable  desire 
to  reason  philosophically,  smothers  spon- 
taneity. 


Music  and  Its  Masters  85 

Beethoven  would  have  rebelled  against 
these  adverse  conditions,  but  he  would 
nevertheless  have  been  influenced  by 
them.  His  spirit  will  defy  time,  but  his 
models  and  methods  have  become  anti- 
quated. A  modern  composer,  however 
gifted,  could  not  follow  them  without 
sacrificing  his  claims  to  recognition. 

We  willingly  allow  Bach  and  Bee- 
thoven to  transport  us  back  into  their 
times,  and  we  draw  refreshment  from  the 
natural  atmosphere  that  pervades  them, 
but  would  reject  a  modern  product 
which  embodied  similar  elements  ;  for 
they  would,  in  such  case,  be  artificial, 
not  the  elements  suggested  by  and  char- 
acteristic of  an  emotional  mood. 

Notation,  which  defined  musical 
achievements,  and  thus  fitted  each  stage 
of  development  to  serve  as  a  stepping- 
stone  to  formulated  art,  was  unaccount- 
ably long  in  coming. 

There  is  no  absolute  certainty  as  to 


86  Music  and  Its  Masters 

who  invented  our  present  system  of 
writing  music,  but  the  honor  is  usually 
accredited  to  Huchbold,  of  Flanders 
(840-930).  He  was  a  learned  Bene- 
dictine monk  and  an  ardent  worker  in 
the  field  of  music.  Huchbold  certainly 
employed  a  form  of  notation  at  least 
suggestive  of  that  now  in  use,  but,  ac- 
cording to  some  historians,  Huchbold's 
own  writings  mention  the  device  as  if  not 
original  with  him.  He  left  examples  of 
part  writing,  which,  however,  mark  no 
improvement  on  the  implied  methods 
of  the  ancient  Egyptians  (suggested 
through  the  mural  paintings  referred  to 
in  Chapter  II.),  for  his  voices  progress  in 
parallel  fourths,  fifths,  and  octaves,  and 
consequently  have  no  independent  sig- 
nificance. 

The  earliest  example  of  modern  no- 
tation is  to  be  seen  in  the  Winchester 
Cathedral.  It  is  the  setting  of  a  prayer, 
and  is  supposed  to  have  been  written  in 


Music  and  Its  Masters  87 

1016  A.D.  England  also  claims  to  have 
furnished  the  first  example  of  contra- 
puntal composition, — a  four-voiced  canon 
with  two  free  bassi,  written  in,  or  prior 
to,  1240.  If  this  be  authentic,  it  is  a 
phenomenon,  like  ''thunder  out  of  a 
clear  sky,"  for  there  was  not  at  that  time, 
nor  for  three  hundred  years  afterwards, 
any  manifest  scientific  tendency  in  Eng- 
land's musical  methods.  This  piece  may 
have  been  a  direct  or  indirect  product 
of  the  Flanders  school,  of  which  Huch- 
bold  was  the  progenitor. 

This  learned  priest,  who  strove  to 
materialize  and  co-ordinate  musical 
means  (not  its  spirit),  may  be  taken  as 
an  index  of  the  intellectual  bent  of  his 
time  in  the  Netherlands,  whose  people, 
undaunted  by  human  foes,  or  by  the 
more  merciless  sea,  which  was  a  per- 
petual menace  to  their  very  existence, 
devoted  much  attention  to  the  develop- 
ment of  the  arts  and  sciences  and  to 


88  Music  and  Its  Masters 

building  up  industries.  Their  intelligent 
and  persistent  enterprise  walled  out  the 
North  Sea  and  made  it  a  tractable  ser- 
vant, and  created  on  those  reclaimed 
marshes  a  civilization  which  for  several 
hundred  years  represented  the  highest 
attainments  of  man. 

This  earnestness  of  character  and 
high  culture  were  congenial  elements  to 
the  growth  of  music,  and  there  is  abun- 
dant evidence  that  their  complement,  a 
distinct  sense  for  sound  expression,  was 
not  wanting,  for  Taine,  in  his  "  Art  in  the 
Netherlands,"  says,  ''Other  people  culti- 
vate music  ;  to  them  it  seems  an  instinct." 
It  is  not  strange  that  this  instinct,  coupled 
with  the  perpetuated  spirit  of  Huchbold, 
should  have  produced  a  formulated  art 
at  that  propitious  stage  in  music's  evolu- 
tion. Music  itself  had  become  a  ripe 
impulse,  ready  and  waiting  for  just  such 
conditions.  The  Flanders  school  ad- 
justed tone  relationships  and  invented 


Music  and  Its  Masters  89 

counterpoint  and  canon.  John  Osteghem 
and  his  pupil  Despres  were  the  greatest 
masters  of  that  initial  school,  which  for 
nearly  two  centuries,  beginning  with  the 
middle  of  the  fourteenth,  furnished  all 
the  European  courts  with  singers,  instru- 
mentalists, and  composers. 

Their  more  elaborate  music  was  writ- 
ten for  the  Church,  and  a  damper  was 
consequently  put  upon  production  by 
the  Reformation,  which  greatly  simplified 
religious  observances  and  closed  choir 
doors  to  the  composers  of  ambitious 
works. 

Before  the  development  of  opera 
and  the  institution  of  the  concert  or- 
chestra and  chorus,  the  Church  was  the 
sole  patron  of  high  musical  endeavor. 
Fortunately,  the  Netherland  musicians 
had  forestalled  the  calamitous  results  of 
this  religious  revolution  through  the  es- 
tablishment of  conservatories  of  music 
in   Venice    and    Naples.     They    trans- 


go  Music  and  Its  Masters 

planted  their  knowledge  and  high  aspi- 
rations into  sunny  and  Catholic  Italy, 
where  they  flourished  and  bore  fruit 
after  their  native  land  had  ceased  to  be 
musically  supreme. 

A  new  art  is  unavoidably  over-con- 
servative. The  natural  laws,  upon  which 
it  is  founded,  hold  its  devotees  to  literal 
conformity  until  experience  has  evolved 
a  sense  of  their  broader  meaning. 

They  are  in  reality  but  rigid  outlines, 
drawn  in  accordance  with  fundamental 
art  adjustments,  the  recognition  of  which 
saves  the  curved  lines  of  our  fancy's 
pictures  from  abnormity  and  chaos. 
They  are  quite  analogous  to  the  ana- 
tomical knowledge  which  is  essential  to 
the  artist,  who  conforms  to  its  general 
requirements  and  still  endows  his  figures 
with  individual  character. 

The  Netherland  music  of  that  period 
was  more  intellectual  than  emotional  ; 
therefore,  taking  the  comparative  char- 


Music  and  Its  Masters  91 

acteristics  of  the  two  peoples  into  ac- 
count, we  can  but  regard  the  migra- 
tion of  the  focus  of  musical  activity  to 
Italy  as  an  extremely  fortunate  event  ; 
beside  the  fact  that  this  change  of  base 
avoided  delay  in  evolution,  or  possible 
decadence. 

The  emotional  Italians  would  not  have 
made  music's  foundation  as  deep  or  as 
broad,  but  they  were  well  fitted  to  con- 
tribute grace  and  beauty  to  its  super- 
structure. The  sensuous  element  in 
music  is  almost  w^holly  a  reflex  of  Italian 
temperament.  We  northern  peoples, 
recognizing  the  power  inherent  in  this 
quality,  cultivate  it  with  more  or  less 
success,  but  it  is  an  exotic  in  our  colder 
natures. 

Under  the  influence  of  Italian  char- 
acter music  soon  began  to  assume  more 
graceful  lines,  purer  euphony,  and  richer 
significance.  Science  was  further  de- 
veloped, but  it  was  treated  as  a  means, 


92  Music  and  Its  Masters 

subject  to  individual  conceptions.  The 
success  of  this  school  transplanted  from 
the  Netherlands  to  Italy  culminated  in 
the  production  of  Palestrina  ( 1 524-1 594), 
the  first  high-priest  of  our  finally  clarified 
art. 

The  inherent  qualities  of  music,  which 
were  considered  at  some  length  in  Chap- 
ters I.  and  II.,  make  our  art  exclusive. 
They  wall  it  about,  forming  an  outer 
temple,  an  inner  temple,  and  a  holiest 
of  holies.  The  first  is  accessible  to  all 
sincere  and  responsive  adherents  of  the 
musical  faith.  The  second  is  for  those 
who  minister,  priests  dedicated  to  the 
service.  To  the  innermost  sanctuary, 
which  holds  the  presence  of  our  musical 
goddess,  Aaron-like  high-priests  alone 
are  admitted,  but  the  song  incense  which 
they  bring  forth  diffuses  itself,  filling  the 
inner  and  the  outer  temples  to  their 
farthermost  recesses.  It  is  primarily  to 
the   ministrations   of  these  high-priests 


Hy  permission  of  K.  H.  Schroeder,  Berlin 
PALESTRINA 


Music  and  Its  Masters  93 

that  we  owe  the  widely  diffused  musical 
culture  of  to-day.  It  shall  therefore  be 
one  of  my  tasks  to  trace  the  character- 
istic influence  of  each  one  of  this  line, 
whose  creations  will  endure  throughout 
time.     In  the  course  of  music's  refininor 

o 

she  had  necessarily  become  more  and 
more  exclusive,  less  accessible  in  her 
ever  higher  estate  to  coarse  and  un- 
cultivated mankind.  This  exclusiveness 
had  from  the  first  step  in  evolution  been 
raising  the  walls  of  our  now  finished 
temple. 

Although  most  of  Italy's  early  music, 
like  that  of  the  Netherlands,  was  written 
for  the  Church,  Palestrina  was  the  first 
composer  to  strike  a  clear  ecclesiastical 
tone.  The  tendency  had  been  towards 
brilliancy,  with  a  seasoning  of  unbe- 
coming sentimentality,  and  Pope  Mar- 
celli,  realizing  the  inappropriateness  of 
such  musical  settings,  conferred  with 
this   rising   genius,    and    commissioned 


94  Music  and  Its  Masters 

him,  in  1563,  to  write  a  mass  consistent 
with  the  spirit  of  worship.  Palestrina's 
third  attempt  resulted  in  the  great 
''Pope  MarcelH  Mass,"  which  is  to-day 
as  acceptable  a  model  for  church  music 
as  it  was  in  the  sixteenth  century. 

I  have  chosen  Palestrina  as  the  first 
high-priest  because  he,  like  his  succes- 
sors. Bach,  Beethoven,  Schubert,  Schu- 
mann, and  Wagner,  was  a  creator,  and 
because  his  works,  like  theirs,  exhale 
the  incense  of  the  holiest  of  holies  ;  an 
incense  which,  unlike  all  others,  gains 
power  with  the  passage  of  time. 

Palestrina's  works  are  characterized 
by  lofty  purpose  and  by  logically  auda- 
cious methods.  His  voice  leading  was 
so  smooth  and  melodic  as  to  prompt 
one  of  the  most  erudite  of  living  musi- 
cians, who  was  at  first  an  anti-Wagnerite, 
to  say  that  "  Wagner  began  with  Meyer- 
beer and  ended  with  Palestrina  ;"  mean- 
ing in  the  latter  comparison  to  pay  the 


Music  and  Its  Masters  95 

highest  possible  tribute  to  the  contra- 
puntal skill  and  musical  methods  of  the 
writer  of  ''  Die  Meistersinger." 

Besides  Palestrina,  Scarlatti  and  Per- 
golesi  were  the  only  early  Italian  com- 
posers whose  music  outlived  the  gener- 
ation in  which  it  was  written.  Scarlatti 
wrote  operas,  but  it  is  through  his  piano- 
forte music  that  his  name  has  been  kept 
alive.  Pergolesi,  who  appeared  on  the 
scene  nearly  two  hundred  years  later 
than  Palestrina,  wrote  operas  which 
were  received  with  wild  enthusiasm. 

During  the  period  of  Italy*s  supre- 
macy (i  500-1 700)  many  forms  of  com- 
position were  originated,  and  many 
mechanical  devices  for  recording  and 
performing  music  were  invented  or  per- 
fected. Among  the  former  were  the 
fugue,  the  oratorio,  the  latter  of  which 
was  at  first  responsive  (alternating 
music  and  reading),  but  soon  assumed 
its  present  character,  the  mass,  and  the 


.    0 

"6  . 


96  Music  and  Its  Masters 

opera.  (It  is  astonishing  that  Monte- 
verde's  operas  ''Arianna"  and  '' Orfeo," 
produced  in  1607-8,  embody  to  some 
degree  Wagner's  idea  of  consistent 
musical  drama.)  The  organ,  violin,  and 
piano-forte  were  improved,  the  flageolet, 
clarionet,  bassoon,  music  type,  punches, 
and  metal  plates  were  invented,  the  first 
opera-house  was  built  (in  Venice),  and 
the  elements  of  modern  orchestra  (wind, 
stringed,  and  percussion  instruments) 
were  formally  combined. 

Flanders'  light  had  shone  into  France 
and  England,  had  awakened  the  people 
of  those  lands  to  a  sense  of  music's 
latent  possibilities,  and  we  find  them 
working  intelligently  and  with  good  re- 
sults ;  but  our  present  aim  is  to  follow 
the  main  stream  of  musical  develop- 
ment, guided  by  the  successive  "  beacon- 
lights"  of  achievement,  along  its  course. 
We  will  later  trace  these  lesser  tribu- 
taries. 


Music  and  Its  Masters  97 

At  the  beginning  of  the  eighteenth 
century  two  lights  of  dazzling  brilliancy 
draw  our  gaze  from  Italy  to  Germany. 
The  direct  influence  of  the  Netherlands, 
which  made  a  deep  and  lasting  impres- 
sion on  the  slow,  but  earnest,  intel- 
lectual, and  song-loving  Germans,  had 
quickened  their  susceptibilities,  and  had 
made  them  responsive  to  the  riper  musi- 
cal development  of  Italy. 

The  Teutonic  character  is  less  emo- 
tional and  impulsive  than  the  Italian, 
but  it  is  more  methodical,  more  roman- 
tic, and  deeper.  It  is  more  like  that  of 
the  Netherlanders,  but  in  measuring 
their  status  we  must  not  forget  that  at 
the  period  of  which  I  write  two  hun- 
dred years  had  passed  since  the  begin- 
ning of  music's  decadence  in  the  north- 
ern first  home.  The  Reformation,  which 
had  such  a  depressing  effect  upon  that 
initial  art,  incited  these  less  scientifically 
musical  people  to  song.     Luther,  who 


98  Music  and  Its  Masters 

co-ordinated  the  modern  German  lan- 
guage, also  struck  a  song  tone,  which 
set  the  hearts  of  his  race  into  sympa- 
thetic vibration. 

The  choral  voices  the  deepest  strata 
of  German  character,  and  its  spirit  echoes 
through  their  more  earnest  works, — in 
the  substratum,  mentioned  in  Chapter 
III., — so  the  Reformation  marks  the  be- 
ginning of  Germany's  musical  culture, 
which  under  direct  and  indirect  guid- 
ance and  incitement  from  Italy  grew  sub- 
stantially and  broadened  until  the  eigh- 
teenth century,  when  the  appearance 
of  Handel  and  Bach  evidences  a  north- 
ward turn  in  the  stream  of  develop- 
ment. 

The  Italians  had  contributed  the  most 
potent  'qualities  of  their  nature  to  this 
stream,  and  now  the  Germans  added 
their  deep  feeling,  intellectual  force,  and 
somewhat  later  their  romance.  As  will 
be  seen,  Italy  had  not  entered  an  inac- 


BACH 


Music  and  Its  Masters  99 

tive  era,  but  Germany  at  this  period 
took  first  place  among  the  factors  of 
evolution,  a  place  she  still  holds. 

My  theory  in  regard  to  the  essential 
character  of  widely  diffused  interest  in 
music  finds  full  endorsement  in  the  con- 
ditions which  prevailed  at  that  time,  and 
still  continue  in  Germany.  Luther's 
chorals  were  written  for  and  were  sung 
by  the  people.  Each  worshipper  found 
in  them  a  conveyance  for  his  devotional 
feelings.  This  feature  of  church  ser- 
vice, this  song  essence,  gradually  per- 
meated every-day  life  and  bore  wonder- 
ful fruit ;  produced  a  really  musical 
nation,  out  of  which  our  second  high- 
priest,  Johann  Sebastian  Bach,  and  his 
less  German  contemporary,  George 
Frederick  Handel,  could  arise. 

Before  the  advent  of  these  giants 
Germany  had  written  and  performed 
numerous  operas,  and  had  in  various 
ways  manifested  high  aspirations,  but 


lOO  Music  and  Its  Masters 

her  musicians  had  composed  no  monu- 
mental works. 

Her  early  troubadours,  of  whom  Wal- 
ther  von  der  Vogelweide  was  the  great- 
est, and  the  **  Meistersanger,"  of  whom 
Hans  Sachs,  who  lived  1494-1576,  was 
the  most  gifted,  left  no  record  of  their 
melodies.  The  very  existence  of  these 
Meistersanger  guilds  for  hundreds  of 
years  shows  vitality  of  purpose  and  high 
aim.  Spurred  on  to  ever  higher  ac- 
complishment by  friendly  rivalry,  these 
guilds  doubtless  contributed  much  to  the 
lyric  strain  in  the  German  nature,  and 
therefore  to  the  ultimate  greatness  of 
their  ''Fatherland."  The  last  of  these 
guilds  was  disbanded  at  Ulm  in  1836. 

Bach  was  the  mightiest  man  who  has 
composed  music.  A  writer  who  saw 
him  says,  ''  His  black  eyes,  shining  out 
of  his  massive  head,  looked  like  flames 
bursting  from  a  rock."  He  was  the  de- 
scendant of  a  line  that  was  both  men- 


Music  and  Its  Masters  ioi- 

tally  and  physically  stalwart.  His  re- 
motest traceable  ancestor  was  a  baker 
who  migrated  from  Hungary  to  Saxony, 
and  his  son,  Johann  Sebastian's  great- 
grandfather, was  a  carpet-weaver  and 
musician.  The  two  succeeding  genera- 
tions devoted  themselves  exclusively  to 
music,  and  they  furnished  half  Thuringia 
with  capable  musicians.  Their  conscien- 
tious work,  however,  gave  no  premoni- 
tion of  the  coming  sublime  climax  in 
their  family  achievements. 

Johann  Sebastian  Bach  inherited  an 
iron  will,  self-abnegation,  and  devotion 
to  art.  His  conceptions  soared  so  far 
above  the  existing  traditions,  and  he 
did  so  little  to  attract  public  attention, 
that  he  was  but  slightly  heeded  during 
his  lifetime  ;  indeed,  it  required  a  century 
after  his  death  and  the  appreciation  of  a 
Mendelssohn  to  make  the  world  realize 
that  a  veritable  god  had  lived  among 
men.     The  modest  cantor  of  Leipzig*s 


ib*2* ' ' '    Music  and  Its  Masters 

St.  Thomas'  school  was  obliged  to 
struggle  to  support  his  large  family,  but 
he  made  no  concessions  to  prevailing 
taste  ;  he  did  not  depart  from  the  lines 
of  his  ideal  to  secure  popularity.  He 
patiently  submitted  to  whatever  teach- 
ing-drudgery was  necessary  to  earn 
bread  for  his  children,  but  when  seated 
on  his  organ-bench  or  when  he  took  his 
quill  in  hand  he  admitted  no  other 
allegiance  than  that  to  art,  and  no  other 
impulse  than  that  which  prompted  him 
to  serve  her  with  his  fullest  powers. 

The  force,  dignity,  simple  loveliness, 
pathos,  and  grandeur  which  in  turn 
characterize  his  conceptions  are  so  won- 
derful, when  considered  as  products  of 
the  eighteenth  century,  that  they  and 
his  serene  indifference  to  recognition 
stamp  him  a  unique  man, — a  musical 
Messiah. 

Bach's  versatility,  facility,  and  physical 
endurance  were  as  remarkable  in  their 


Music  and  Its  Masters  103 

way  as  was  the  quality  of  his  creations. 
He  wrote  for  organ,  piano,  violin,  for 
voices  unaccompanied  and  with  organ  or 
orchestra,  and  asserted  his  mastery  in 
each  and  all  of  these  fields.  His  pre- 
served writings  would  busy  a  copyist 
ten  hours  per  day  for  fourteen  years, 
and  still  Bach,  in  the  absence  of  other 
outlets,  found  time  to  engrave  much  of 
his  own  music.  It  is  to  be  hoped  that 
the  tardy  appreciation  of  his  character 
and  works,  which  have  at  last  filled  the 
world  with  adoration,  may  penetrate  the 
Beyond  and  warm  his  heart  towards  man- 
kind, who  during  his  life  so  little  fath- 
omed the  depths  of  his  emotions  and 
failed  to  see  the  loftiness  of  his  ideals. 

Handel  was  also  great,  unless  com- 
pared with  his  greater  contemporary. 
His  best  work  was  the  oratorio  *'  Israel 
in  Egypt."  His  style  was  a  mixture  of 
Italian  grace  and  German  vigor.  He 
was  a  master  of  vocal  resources,   and 


104  Music  and  Its  Masters 

his  works  are  therefore  strong  in  sonority, 
and  grateful  to  both  singers  and  hearers. 
Handel  wrote  fluently,  but  with  a  less 
sustained  earnestness  than  Bach,  and 
his  compositions  have  done  more  to 
foster  chorus  singing  than  have  all  other 
agencies  combined  ;  for  which  reason  the 
musical  world  is  but  discharging  a  just 
debt  in  assigning  to  him  the  place  of 
honor  on  its  vocal  repertoires. 

Of  these  two  masters,  Handel  wrote 
less  involvedly.  Bach  depended  upon 
the  legitimate  development  of  his  themes, 
whereas  Handel  often  resorted  to  tone 
masses, — was  more  harmonic  than  con- 
trapuntal. 

Soon  after  the  middle  of  the  eighteenth 
century  the  ever-rising  flood  of  musical 
culture  became  highest  in  Vienna.  This 
resulted  quite  as  much  from  the  city's 
contiguity  to  Italy,  whose  lyric  springs 
had  by  no  means  run  dry,  as  from  the 
stream  of  northern  influence.     Musical 


Music  and  Its  Masters  105 

intelligence  had  by  this  time  become  so 
diffused  that  bright  lights  showed  them- 
selves at  many  points  on  the  horizon, 
but  Vienna  was  made  resplendent  by  a 
galaxy  that  illumined  her  musical  life 
and  prepared  her  for  our  third  and 
fourth  high-priests,  Beethoven  and  Schu- 
bert. 

The  most  brilliant  of  this  galaxy  were 
Haydn,  Mozart,  and  Gluck,  each  and 
all  of  whom  bequeathed  treasures  to  the 
world  surpassed  in  value  only  by  those 
with  which  our  priestly  line  endowed 
us.  "  Papa  Haydn"  gave  expression  to 
his  pure  aspirations  and  childlike  sim- 
plicity in  symphonies,  stringed  quartets, 
and  other  ensemble  works,  and  in  large 
vocal  compositions.  The  "  Creation" 
and  *'  Seasons"  are  his  most  ambitious 
writings.  Few  of  Haydn's  works  have 
great  intellectual  power,  but  they  are  as 
refreshing  as  rural  scenes  or  well-told 
tales.     Mozart  and  Gluck  will  be  neces- 


io6  Music  and  Its  Masters 

sarily  discussed  in  Chapter  V.,  so  I  will 
pass  them  now. 

Beethoven  was  our  third  high-priest, 
because  his  somewhat  earlier  appearance 
entitles  him  to  precedence  over  his  later 
coadjutor.  The  Vienna  school  had  origi- 
nated or  evolved  the  sonata  form,  had  en- 
dowed music  with  more  sustained  and 
more  clearly  defined  melody,  richer  har- 
monic color,  and  dramatic  power,  and 
had  greatly  enriched  the  orchestra ;  so 
Beethoven  began  his  work  with  far 
ampler  resources  at  his  command  and 
more  fertile  traditions  in  which  to  root 
his  art  than  had  any  of  his  prede- 
cessors. 

Beethoven  was  like  Bach  in  many  of 
his  characteristics  ;  he  was  self-reliant, 
manfully  tender,  and  forcible  without 
violence.  His  best  conceptions  are  so 
high  and  noble  that  they  leave  human 
frailties  far  behind  and  suggest  the 
music  of  the  spheres,   but  he  was  less 


KEETHOVEN 


Music  and  Its  Masters  107 

constant  in  his  fidelity  to  art  than  Bach ; 
not  because  he  yielded  to  pressure  from 
without,  but  because  of  his  impatient 
nature,  which  at  times  impelled  him  to 
follow  routine  rather  than  wait  for  in- 
spiration to  outline  his  course.  This 
resulted  in  lapses,  which  will,  when 
awe  has  given  place  to  discriminating 
judgment,  lead  the  musical  world  to 
discard  some  of  his  now  blindly  ac- 
cepted works.  This  is  to  be  desired, 
for  those  who  profess  to,  or  actually  do, 
derive  pleasure  from  all  of  Beethoven's 
works  are  either  untrue  to  themselves, 
or  they  are  incapable  of  responsiveness 
to  his  supreme  moments,  which  pro- 
duced such  wonders  of  tonal  expression 
as  **Fidelio"  and  the  ''Eroica." 

It  will  not  matter  what  forms  music 
may  assume  in  the  course  of  her  further 
evolution,  Beethoven's  more  intensely 
individual  creations  will  retain  their 
monumental  character,  looking  serenely 


io8  Music  and  Its  Masters 

upon  passing  generations  of  mankind 
like  the  Pyramids,  but  even  less  perish- 
able than  they. 

In  scanning  Beethoven's  methods  and 
the  spirit  which  pervades  his  composi- 
tions, as  compared  with  those  of  Bach, 
we  must  take  cognizance  of  the  different 
social  and  musical  conditions  which  pre- 
vailed in  their  respective  periods.  Eu- 
rope was,  at  the  beginning  of  the  nine- 
teenth century,  shaking  off  her  pow- 
dered wigs  and  their  attendant  aus- 
terity. Culture  was  becoming  more 
confident  and  audacious,  and  music  re- 
flected the  features  of  her  new  environ- 
ment in  increased  geniality  and  breadth 
of  scope.  Beethoven's  methods  were 
quite  opposed  to  those  employed  by 
Bach.  The  former  drew  a  grand  sweep 
of  outline,  and  then  used  counterpoint 
as  a  contributive  element,  whereas  the- 
matic counterpoint  was  the  substance 
of   Bach's  creations, — the  tissue  which 


By  permission  of  E.  H.  Schroeder,  Berlin 

SCHUBERT 


Music  and  Its  Masters  109 

gave  them  form.     Each  was  a  reflex  of 
the  noblest  tendencies  of  his  time. 

I  approach  Schubert,  our  fourth  high- 
priest,  whose  ministrations,  coming  in 
conjunction  with  those  of  Beethoven, 
make  their  epoch  the  most  remarkable 
one  in  music's  career,  with  wonder  for 
his  achievements  and  regret  for  his  half- 
lived  life.  That  which  was  so  beautifully 
said  of  Keats,  ''Life  of  a  long  life  con- 
densed to  a  mere  drop,  and  fallen  like  a 
tear  upon  the  world's  cheek,  to  make  it 
burn  forever,"  would  apply  equally  to 
Schubert.  He  was  born  into  a  period 
that  had  already  manifested  lyric  ten- 
dencies, but  he  was  an  inexhaustible 
spring,  from  which  limpid  melody  gushed 
in  ever-increasing  volume,  filling  his 
every  musical  scheme  to  repletion.  Na- 
ture made  Schubert  the  greatest  musi- 
cal genius  the  world  has  seen,  and  had 
his  life  but  reached  completeness,  he 
would,  perhaps,  have   drawn   from   his 


no  Music  and  Its  Masters 

emotional  well-spring  greater  sympho- 
nies than  the  ''  C  major"  and  the  "Un- 
finished." 

Schubert  was  virtually  the  originator 
of  the  modern  song,  which  has  been, 
and  always  will  be,  a  great  solace  to 
mankind.  It  is  at  the  same  time  the 
most  practical,  because  the  most  easily 
understood,  means  of  educating  musical 
instinct  into  sympathy  with  the  spirit 
that  pervades  more  elaborate  forms. 
The  associated  texts  make  clear  their 
musical  import,  and  the  appreciation 
of  one  really  good  composition  places 
us  on  a  vantage-ground  from  which  we 
can  better  comprehend  others.  Schu- 
bert required  the  song  as  a  ready  outlet 
for  his  lyric  productiveness,  and  wrote 
twelve  hundred  of  them  without  redun- 
dancies and  with  always  definite  and 
distinguishing  significance. 

Many  gifted  composers  have  put  their 
most  felicitous  fancies  into  this  fireside 


Music  and  Its  Masters  ill 

form,  but,  although  some  have  sung 
more  impassionedly,  and  others  have 
placed  their  melodies  in  richer  settings, 
no  one  has  been  so  uniformly  adequate 
as  Franz  Schubert.  Schumann,  Franz, 
and  Jensen  always  please,  and  they 
often  excite  our  wonder  by  the  beauty 
and  adaptability  of  their  song  concep- 
tions, but  Schubert's  songs  do  not  ex- 
press, they  embody,  moods  and  senti- 
ments. His  flow  of  melody  was  so 
fresh  and  strong  that  in  instrumental 
compositions  it  often  carried  him  to  un- 
common length.  The  Germans  call  his 
C  major  symphony  **The  Symphony  of 
Heavenly  Length."  This  phrase  quite 
aptly  describes  the  work,  for  an  idea  of 
its  proportions,  and  of  the  quality  which 
prevents  them  from  being  prohibitory, 
are  both  voiced  by  the  expressive  ad- 
jective employed^  Schubert  scarcely 
lived  to  maturity,  but  he  dispensed  such 
unalloyed  benefits  that  his  name  will  be 


112  Music  and  Its  Masters 

forever  enshrined  in  the  hearts  of  those 
who  love  pure  music. 

During  all  this  time  culture  had  been 
making  great  strides,  and  a  compre- 
hensive glance,  at  the  time  of  Schubert's 
death,  would  have  revealed  all  Europe 
aflood  with  musical  enthusiasm.  Orches- 
tras were  multiplied  and  improved,  grand 
chorus  organizations  were  founded,  and 
institutions  for  the  education  of  musical 
aspirants  were  established  under  the 
patronage  of  various  governments. 

Out  of  this  condition  come  two  bright 
lights  that  rivet  our  attention  upon  Can- 
tor Bach's  old  home  as  the  centre  of 
influence.  Our  stream  of  development, 
which  was  a  rivulet  as  it  flowed  from 
Flanders,  soon  became  a  mighty  river, 
and  has  now  overflowed  its  banks  and 
formed  a  great  sea  of  culture. 

Mendelssohn  was  one  of  the  most 
genial  characters  that  we  meet  in  the 
annals   of   music.     His   education  and 


Music  and  Its  Masters  113 

temperament  made  the  adequate  adjust- 
ment of  resources  to  the  fulfilment  of 
his  schemes  almost  intuitive ;  but  his 
conceptions  themselves,  although  in- 
variably round  and  poetic,  usually  lack 
the  bold  lines  and  the  deep  import  that 
have  distinguished  the  creations  of  our 
high-priests.  Human  characters,  like 
forest-trees,  seem  to  need  exposure  to 
trying  winds,  which  if  successfully  weath- 
ered only  strengthen  their  fibres  and 
loosen  the  soil  about  their  roots,  so  that 
they  may  spread  out  and  extend  down- 
ward to  fresh  and  deeper  sources  of  im- 
pulse. It  may  be  that  Mendelssohn's 
life  conditions  were  too  peaceful,  that 
he  was  too  much  sheltered  from  care 
and  adversity  to  fully  develop  the  depth 
and  nobility  of  his  nature,  which  flashes 
out  in  some  parts  of  ''  Saint  Paul"  and 
"Elijah,"  and  pervades  the  "Walpurgis 
Night." 

His  happy  disposition  found  its  most 


114  Music  and  Its  Masters 

characteristic  expression  in  inimitable 
scherzi  and  works  of  that  less  emotional 
class.  Mendelssohn's  elegance  of  style, 
richness  of  color,  and  his  personality 
caused  a  wave  of  imitation  to  set  across 
musical  production,  but  it  soon  subsided, 
for  only  the  most  stalwart  methods  en- 
dure the  dilution  incident  to  their  adop- 
tion by  lesser  talent  without  degener- 
ating to  insipid  weakness.  Mendels- 
sohn's greatest  service  to  the  musical 
world  was  rendered  in  his  persistent 
advocacy  of  Bach. 

Schumann,  our  fifth  high-priest,  had 
to  encounter  the  difficulties  of  life  in  the 
open  field,  having  had  no  social  nor 
financial  breastworks  from  behind  which 
he  could  ignore  the  "arrows  of  out- 
rageous fortune."  His  path  was  strewn 
with  thorns,  and  was  unlighted  by  recog- 
nition until  near  its  end.  Schumann 
was  not  so  consummate  a  master  of 
counterpoint  as  was  Mendelssohn,  but 


I5y  (jcriiii 


.f  i:.  II.  Schroeder.  Berlin 

SCHUMANN 


Music  and  Its  Masters  115' 

his  stronger  individuality  and  deeper 
sensibility  filled  his  fancies  with  epoch- 
making  qualities.  Our  art  had  during 
the  previous  quarter  century  taken  on 
more  intensity,  greater  freedom  in  voice 
leading,  and,  last  of  all,  a  well-defined 
romantic  vein. 

The  first  two  appealed  strongly  to 
Schumann's  nature,  as  is  evidenced  by 
his  writings,  for  the  pictures  of  his  im- 
aginings are  not  peaceful  pastoral  scenes, 
but  depict  storms  of  passion  and  emo- 
tional struggles.  Romance  shows  itself 
at  times,  but  it  is  not  a  distinguishing 
element.  Schumann  wrote  four  sym- 
phonies, of  which  the  last  one  heard 
is  always  the  best.  They  rank  among 
the  few  immortal  works  in  this  epic  form, 
but  entirely  because  of  the  individual 
character  of  their  schemes  and  the  rich- 
ness of  their  musical  texture,  for  their 
instrumental  colors  are  not  adequate. 
He  succeeded  equally  well  in  ensemble, 


ii6  Music  and  Its  Masters 

chorus,  and  piano-forte  music,  and  his 
songs  almost  rival  those  of  Schubert,  but 
strange  to  say,  the  orchestra  seems  to 
have  been  a  closed  book  to  our  fifth  high- 
priest. 

Schumann  had,  in  his  impatience  to 
overcome  the  weakness  of  his  fourth  or 
ring  fingers,  employed  a  mechanical  ap- 
pliance which  permanently  lamed  his 
hands,  thereby  dashing  his  hopes  of  be- 
coming a  piano  virtuoso.  This  is  the 
only  recorded  case  in  which  violent 
methods  have  produced  desirable  fruits  ; 
for  they  usually  deaden  the  nerves  only, 
and  result  in  strength  without  facility, 
and  tone  without  beauty  ;  in  other  words, 
in  wooden  pianists.  In  this  case  they 
produced  entire  disability,  and  forced 
Schumann  into  his  proper  sphere, — 
creation, — in  which  he  accomplished  last- 
ing good,  whereas  the  benefits  to  art  of 
even  the  highest  grade  of  virtuosity  are 
comparatively  ephemeral. 


Music  and  Its  Masters  117 

His  love  for  the  piano-forte  led  him  to 
study  its  capacities  and  limitations  most 
thoroughly,  the  consequence  being  that 
his  compositions  for  that  instrument  are 
more  grateful  to  the  fingers  and  ears  of 
pianists  than  those  of  any  other  classi- 
cal composer. 

Schumann's  music  is  more  involved 
than  Beethoven's  or  Schubert's,  and  his 
restless  passion  found  expression  in 
broken  rhythms  and  in  dissonant  com- 
pounds, which,  however  they  may  at 
first  impress  us,  gain  natural  and  deep 
significance  with  close  familiarity.  He 
was  the  first  composer  to  feel  and  apply 
the  immense,  expressive  resources  in- 
herent in  rhythm. 

Schumann's  quintet  for  strings  and 
piano-forte  is  one  of  the  greatest  pieces 
of  ensemble  music  that  has  been  written, 
and  his  piano  concerto  in  A  minor  is,  to 
my  mind,  without  a  rival.  Of  his  songs, 
the  "  Frauen  Liebe  und  Leben"  cyclus 


ii8  Music  and  Its  Masters 

are,  when  the  numbers  are  considered 
singly,  and  then  in  their  respective  rela- 
tions to  his  beautifully  rounded  concep- 
tion of  womanliness,  the  most  remark- 
able, although  the  ^'Dichter  Liebe"  is 
full  of  gems,  and  the  "  Spring  Night" 
is  a  picture  which  is  more  suggestive  of 
a  magic  wand  than  of  a  human  intellect. 

Our  fifth  high-priest  was  not  alone  a 
musician  ;  he  was  a  philosopher  and  the 
ablest  critic  the  musical  world  has  seen. 
He  was  so  broad  that  he  could  be  gen- 
erous as  well  as  just,  as  was  shown 
by  his  laudatory  writings  in  regard  to 
his  rival, — Mendelssohn.  He  estimated 
Wagner's  cruder  stage  correctly,  and 
would  doubtless  have  become  an  ad- 
herent of  the  new  faith  had  he  lived  to 
see  its  riper  fruits  ;  for  he  was  always 
susceptible  to  manifestations  of  genuine 
creative  ability  and  logical  reasoning. 

The  consideration  of  Wagner,  the 
sixth  in  line,  involves  entering  upon  a 


Music  and  Its  Masters  119 

somewhat  new  field,  and  it  will  require 
so  much  space  that  I  will  give  him,  his 
forms,  and  his  methods  a  separate  chap- 
ter. Before  undertaking  that  task  it 
may  be  well  to  trace  some  of  the  tribu- 
tary influences  which,  following  collateral 
lines,  have  helped  to  swell  the  tide  of 
musical  culture.  It  will  facilitate  the  ac- 
complishment of  this  purpose  to  scan  the 
achievements  of  each  nation  separately, 
mentioning  only  such  individuals  and 
events  as  were  active  agents  in  further- 
ing the  cause. 

France  evinced  a  very  marked  in- 
terest in  music  early  in  its  second  era, 
but  her  good  intentions  were  several 
hundred  years  in  crystallizing.  The 
establishment  of  an  Academy  of  Music 
in  Paris  (1672)  was  the  first  really  note- 
worthy event  in  the  history  of  French 
music.  Tulli,  who  was  its  first  director, 
was  a  very  able  man.  He  wrote  operas, 
which  were   sung   in   French,    and    he 


120  Music  and  Its  Masters 

created  the  chrysalis  from  which  our 
symphony  was  later  developed. 

Although  the  next  hundred  years 
were  not  productive  of  great  men,  Paris 
had  at  the  end  of  that  period  become 
attractive  and  congenial  to  such  masters 
as  Gluck,  Cherubini,  and  Piccini.  This 
shows  that  she  had  educated  a  genera- 
tion of  intelligent  listeners,  and  at  least 
a  portion  of  the  executants  necessary  to 
the  performance  of  grand  opera. 

In  1 795  the  Conservatory  was  founded, 
which  event  marked  the  beginning  of 
that  earnest,  organized  effort  that  has 
given  the  world  so  many  rare  instru- 
mentalists and  vocalists.  The  finesse 
of  the  French  school  is  delicious  when 
applied  with  intellectual  breadth  sufficient 
to  prevent  its  becoming  finical.  France 
has  also  produced  numberless  com- 
posers, but  few  who  have  attained  to 
more  than  passing  fame.  Her  people 
are  quick  in  their  perceptions,  and  deft 


Music  and  Its  Masters  121 

and  dainty  in  all  that  appertains  to 
aesthetics.  They  are  enthusiastic  lovers 
of  such  music  as  does  not  require  them 
to  think  earnestly  while  following  it,  but 
they  are  emotionally  volatile. 

Berlioz  is  the  only  French  composer 
who  successfully  resisted  the  pressure  of 
this  environment.  He  was  made  of 
stern  stuff,  and  followed  the  promptings 
of  his  muse  without  wavering,  although 
she  often  dictated  courses  and  methods 
that  precluded  immediate  success  with 
the  public.  In  his  Requiem  Mass,  which 
looks  bizarre  to  a  casual  observer  of  the 
score,  he  uses  each  and  all  of  the  execu- 
tive forces,  an  immense  orchestra  with 
all  possible  accessories,  auxiliary  brass 
corps,  chorus,  and  soli,  with  such  keen 
appreciation  of  individual  quality  and 
such  unerring  judgment  as  to  the  ap- 
propriate role  for  each  quality  in  the 
grand  ensemble,  that  the  effects  he  attains 
not  only  disarm  criticism,  they  fill  one 


122  Music  and  Its  Masters 

with  awe.  Still,  if  we  scrutinize  Ber- 
lioz's works  closely,  we  find  that  he  was 
more  a  Rubens  than  a  Rembrandt,  for 
while  his  diction  was  often  more  erratic 
than  sequential,  his  sense  of  tone  color 
was  so  acute  that  it  led  him  to  inaugu- 
rate the  movement  that  is  still  in  prog- 
ress for  purging  music  of  pernicious 
unisons  reinforcements. 

Of  the  other  notable  French  com- 
posers, Gounod  is  delightfully  melo- 
dious, but  is  too  sweet  to  be  entirely 
wholesome,  and  Saint-Saens  (half  Ger- 
man in  instinct  and  manner)  is  a  .phe- 
nomenal master  of  instrumentation,  and 
he  is  very  ingenious,  but  one  is  seldom 
convinced  that  his  compositions  have 
grown  from  emotional  germs.  Mas- 
senet, Bizet,  and  others  have  written,  or 
are  writing,  charming  music,  but  it  has 
little  substantiality.  Its  charms  are  liable 
to  effervesce,  like  the  emotions  of  the 
Paris  public.  The  French  seem  to  reserve 


Music  and  Its  Masters  123 

all  of  their  earnestness  for  the  more 
tangible  arts,  and  for  science,  to  all  of 
which  they  have  contributed  their  full 
share. 

England's  musical  career  has  been 
unique.  The  people  of  that  snug  little 
island  across  the  channel  should  be  an 
enthusiastically  happy  race,  for  nature 
endowed  their  land  with  fertility  and 
beauty,  and  centuries  of  skilful  cultiva- 
tion have  enhanced  these  virtues  until 
Albion's  rural  loveliness  is  to-day  un- 
equalled. They  have  exceptionally  rich 
traditions,  their  prowess  in  arms  and 
achievements  in  literature,  science,  pic- 
torial art,  and  industry  furnish  abundant 
grounds  for  their  national  pride,  but  it  is 
a  pity  that  their  blessings  have  not  made 
them  more  demonstrative,  for  stoical 
complacency  is  not  good  soil  in  which  to 
grow  an  emotional  art.  For  this  reason 
recorded  English  composition,  which  be- 
gan so  unprecedentedly  well  in  the  six- 


124  Music  and  Its  Masters 

teenth  century  with  the  invention  of  the 
madrigal,  has  not  fulfilled  the  promise 
implied  by  that  event. 

The  English  are  a  sturdy  race,  and 
their  climate  and  out-of-door  amusements 
have  endowed  their  voices  with  uncom- 
monly mellow  and  tuneful  qualities.  It 
is  therefore  quite  natural  that  their  musi- 
cal activities  should  have  been  so  largely 
centred  in  chorus  singing,  which  they 
make  peculiarly  sonorous  and  artistically 
adequate. 

This  choral  virtuosity  is  not  a  recent 
growth,  for  it  attracted  Handel  in  the 
eighteenth  century.  It  was  also  recog- 
nized by  Mendelssohn.  This  love  for 
song  has  been  materially  fostered  by 
the  Established  Church,  whose  elaborate 
services  have  furnished  composers  with 
both  incitement  and  outlet.  Most  of 
England's  choral  works  are  dignified  and 
smooth,  but  they  lack  intensity. 

There  is  an  element  in  English  (and 


Music  and  Its  Masters  125 

American)  musical  life  the  evil  influence 
of  which  cannot  be  easily  over-estimated  : 
it  is  the  popular  ballad.  In  them  the 
best  lyric  texts  in  any  language  are 
associated  with  musical  conceptions 
which  are  usually  so  devoid  of  artistic 
qualities  and  significance,  that  no  one  at 
all  musical  would  endure  them  were  it 
not  for  the  halo  cast  about  their  imbe- 
cility by  the  poet's  art,  which  they  pro- 
fane. 

The  Scandinavian  countries,  and  Rus- 
sia, Poland,  and  Hungary,  each  with  its 
distinctive  folk-song  treasury  and  ro- 
mantic traditions,  have,  during  this  cen- 
tury, awakened  to  great  musical  activity, 
and  each  of  them  has  produced  one  or 
more  composers  who  have  made  an  im- 
pression on  art  evolution. 

The  first  named  have  given  us  Svend- 
sen,  Grieg,  and  Hamerik,  not  to  mention 
the  artistic  but  less  stalwart  Gade,  with 
their    weird    and    at    times    grotesque 


126  Music  and  Its  Masters 

rhythms,  melodic  contour,  and  harmo- 
nies. The  sensation  produced  by  these 
Scandinavian  song  characteristics  when 
first  brought  to  the  notice  of  the  outside 
world,  impelled  these  talented  men  to 
incorporate  them  into  their  art.  This 
was  a  mistake,  for  great  music  is  as 
broad  as  the  universe,  whereas  the  vein 
of  national  song  is  narrow  and  only  lim- 
itedly  fruitful.  Had  Svendsen  escaped 
infection  from  this  northern  piquancy, 
he  might  possibly  have  fitted  himself 
to  wear  high-priestly  robes,  for  his  en- 
dowments were  of  the  highest,  and  his 
debut  as  a  composer  was  startlingly 
brilliant. 

Russia's  musical  type  is  less  pro- 
nounced than  the  Scandinavian.  Her 
producers  have  therefore  developed  on 
cosmopolitan  lines.  Tschaikowski,  who 
was  beyond  compare  the  most  gifted 
composer  that  Russia  has  given  to  the 
world,  may  with  the  passage  of  time  be 


Music  and  Its  Masters  127 

recognized  as  the  natural  heir  of  our 
priestly  line.  His  emotional  power, 
clean-cut  individuality  (originality),  fine 
sense  of  rhythmic  values  and  color  com- 
binations, and  his  inexhaustible  lyric 
invention  place  him  at  the  head  of  sym- 
phonists  of  his  time. 

An  event  which  reflected  honor  on 
the  empire  of  the  Czar  was  the  birth 
within  her  borders  of  that  giant  of  all 
pianists,  Anton  Rubenstein.  I  speak  of 
him  as  a  pianist  rather  than  as  a  com- 
poser, for  while  he  often  showed  the 
possession  of  uncommon  creative  facul- 
ties, he  was  too  diffuse,  seldom  focussed 
his  tonal  diction  to  such  coherent 
strength  as  would  make  his  writings 
comparable  with  his  playing. 

Poland  gave  us  Chopin,  who  is  the 
one  exception  to  the  rules  by  which  I 
have  endeavored  to  trace  the  successive 
stages  of  musical  evolution.  All  other 
composers  have   taken  inherited   forms 


128  Music  and  Its  Masters 

and  means,  and  have  moulded  them  into 
shapes  comporting  with  the  spirit  of  their 
individual  conceptions,  and  even  these 
conceptions  were  to  a  considerable  extent 
reflections  of  their  environment.  Beet- 
hoven was  a  mighty  genius,  but  he  did 
not  create  an  art  type,  and  was  therefore 
not,  in  a  broad  sense,  original,  whereas 
Chopin  was  radically  so,  his  works  seem- 
ing to  owe  no  allegiance  to  schools,  and 
seldom  to  nationality,  but  only  to  his 
poetic  soul,  of  which  they  were  the 
legitimate  offspring. 

His  fancies  are  sometimes  more  grace- 
ful than  strong ;  they  even,  now  and 
then,  verge  on  the  sentimental ;  so  Cho- 
pin is  not  entitled  to  a  place  among  the 
giants,  although  he  revolutionized  com- 
position for  the  piano,  and  wrote  some 
things  so  beautiful  that  they  excite  ever 
fresh  wonder.  The  small  form  seemed 
to  best  suit  his  spontaneous  style  ;  there- 
fore op.  lo  and  op.  25,  and  the  preludes, 


Music  and  Its  Masters  129 

undoubtedly  better  represent  Chopin's 
individuality  than  do  any  other  of  his 
works. 

Franz  Liszt  was  born  in  Hungary,  and 
in  his  less  serious  moments  made  use  of 
the  gypsy-like  rhythms,  twists,  and  spas- 
modic utterance  of  her  national  music. 
At  other  times  he  wrote  universal  music, 
which  he  made  characteristic  through 
breathing  into  it  his  own  rich  individ- 
uality. The  Abbe  Doctor  was  more 
feted  and  less  spoiled  thereby  than  any 
successful  artist  of  modern  times.  He 
led  a  life  of  triumph  from  youth  to  old 
age,  and  through  it  all  preserved  a  sim- 
ple modesty  of  manner,  interest  in  new 
talents  and  accomplishments,  and  an  in- 
describable intellectual  fascination. 

Nothing  afforded  Liszt  more  pleasure 
than  to  give  advice  to,  or  to  use  his  in- 
fluence for  the  benefit  of,  talent  strug- 
gling to  clarify  its  own  conceptions,  or 
seeking    indispensable   publicity.      The 


130  Music  and  Its  Masters 

list  of  his  proteges  includes  many  who 
have  made  world  records,  like  Raff, 
Bulow,  Tausig,  and  Wagner.  But  for 
**  Meister"  Liszt's  early  perception  of 
Wagner's  then  undeveloped  genius,  we 
should  have  had  no  sixth  high-priest  to 
record,  and  no  Bayreuth  festivals. 

America  has  only  recently  entered  the 
lists,  for  the  conditions  attendant  upon 
a  new  civilization  make  artistic  achieve- 
ment impossible.  These  conditions  were 
emphatically  bad  in  our  land,  and  they 
yielded  reluctantly  to  art  requirements. 
The  religious  bigotry  of  a  large  portion 
of  those  who  first  came  to  America, 
seeking  freedom  of  conscience  (for  those 
who  thought  and  believed  as  they  thought 
and  believed),  was  deadly  to  art  impulse. 
They  looked  upon  any  music  not  set  to 
sacred  words  as  a  frivolity  that  would 
imperil  their  souls,  and  they  exercised 
little  judgment  in  selecting  such  music 
as  they  did  use.     This  narrow  view  of 


Music  and  Its  Masters  131 

our  art  greatly  delayed  the  advent  of 
musical  intelligence,  and  it  called  a 
species  of  *'psalm-smiters"  into  being, 
who,  with  inappropriate  adaptations  of 
secular  melodies,  and  worse  attempts  at 
composition,  debased  both  music  and 
the  services  of  the  church,  and  sapped 
the  vitality  of  art  tendency  when  it  first 
became  manifest.  America  still  harbors 
some  of  these  vampires,  but  the  day  of 
art  is  breaking  over  our  land,  and 
these  creatures  of  darkness  will  soon 
disappear. 

Our  progress  was  at  first  slow,  but 
there  have  been  no  backward  steps,  and 
the  past  fifty  years  have  witnessed  a 
magical  advance  in  general  intelligence 
and  in  creative  capacity. 

Before  closing  this  chapter  I  must  re- 
turn to  Germany  and  trace  some  of  the 
subsidiary  sources  of  her  present  su- 
premacy. 

The    name    **  Robert    Franz,"    which 


132  Music  and  Its  Masters 

was  years  ago  adopted  by  a  timid  young 
musician  as  his  nom  deplume,  was  formed 
by  combining  the  first  names  of  his  ideal 
tone  poets,  Schumann  and  Schubert. 
His  success  was  immediate,  and  he  soon 
became  so  identified  with  this  name 
that  his  own  almost  passed  out  of  use. 
Robert  Franz  was  a  pure  lyrist,  and  his 
songs  must  be  given  place  little  below 
those  of  his  great  models.  He  served 
to  perpetuate  the  spirit  of  song,  and 
placed  the  world  under  tribute  by  his 
Bach  researches. 

Raff  was  a  man  of  startling  routine, 
and  of  no  less  astounding  inequalities  in 
merit.  Some  of  his  symphonies  are 
replete  with  sensuous  melody  and  fresh 
harmonic,  contrapuntal,  and  instrumen- 
tal color,  while  others  are  incomprehen- 
sibly dull.  ''  Leonora"  and  "  Im  Walde" 
represent  Raff  at  his  best,  and  they  are 
so  strong  and  beautiful  that  they  will 
keep   their   creator's   name  before  the 


Music  and  Its  Masters  133 

musical  world  for  many  years.  No  one 
can  predict  how  long  Raff's  mastery  of 
methods  and  forms  will  exert  a  salutary 
influence  upon  composers. 

Schumann  was  Brahms' s  musical  god- 
father, and  he  predicted  great  results 
from  the  development  of  his  godson's 
talent.  There  is  much  difference  of 
opinion  as  to  whether  Schumann's  proph- 
ecy was  fulfilled,  but  many  capable  critics 
are  on  the  affirmative  side.  Brahms 
has,  in  one  way  at  least,  shown  the  pos- 
session of  absolutely  great  qualities, — 
viz.,  his  productivity  did  not  exhaust, 
but  increased  the  vitality  of  his  concep- 
tions. He  was  an  artist  with  whom 
future  generations  will  have  to  do,  but 
he  was  not  an  epoch-maker. 


CHAPTER    V 

WAGNER   AND    THE    MUSIC    DRAMA 

XT  Is  quite  proper  to  devote  a 
chapter  to  Richard  Wagner,  for 
his  later  works  are  not  only  ex- 
amples of  the  most  skilful  and  purpose- 
ful employment  of  the  contrapuntal  and 
instrumental  resources  which  he,  in  com- 
mon with  his  contemporaries,  inherited 
from  the  past,  but  they  show  how  auda- 
cious genius  may  safely  pursue  its  pur- 
poses out  beyond  beaten  paths  into 
unexplored  regions  of  tonal  expression. 
Why  may  genius  do  this,  which  is  so 
uniformly  fatal  to  the  less  gifted  ?  It  is 
because  of  its  comprehensive  grasp  of 
logical  sequence  and  its  intuitive  choice 
of  adaptable  means. 

Ripe  genius  is  a  definite  talent  which 
134 


Music  and  Its  Masters  135 

has  been  subjected  to  exhaustive  dis- 
cipline, which  is  familiar  with  traditions, 
and  takes  full  cognizance  of  pedantic 
forms,  but  is  guided  by  an  art  feeling 
engendered  by  this  knowledge,  and  not 
by  the  knowledge  itself. 

It  is  a  law  unto  itself.  It  conceives  a 
picture,  a  poem,  or  a  musical  sentiment, 
and  communicates  it  to  us  through 
means  that  are  often  as  unfamiliar  as 
is  the  effect  of  the  whole  original ;  for 
it  usually  avoids  the  ruts  of  travelled 
ways,  its  clear  view  of  the  objective 
goal  enabling  it  to  follow  the  less  fre- 
quented stream-side  or  mountain-top 
paths. 

Wagner  was,  in  the  last  thirty  years 
of  his  life,  a  ripe  genius.  He  was  the 
sixth  of  our  musical  high-priests,  and 
he  filled  the  art  temple  with  a  character 
istic  song  incense  which  will  pervade  its 
atmosphere  as  long  as  human  passions 
continue  to  furnish  art  impulse. 


136  Music  and  Its  Masters 

There  is  a  class  of  pedants  who  still 
take  satisfaction  in  calling  Wagner's 
music  artificial  ;  but  these  short-sighted 
critics  cannot  or  will  not  properly  sur- 
vey the  field  of  his  activity  and  its  fruits. 
No  human  mind  could,  unless  impelled 
by  natural,  sequential  feeling  and  virile 
imagination,  write  even  one  of  his  later 
dramas  without  manifold  exhibitions  of 
weakness  in  redundancies  and  lapses 
in  significance.  The  fact  that  Wag- 
ner's works,  from  the  **  Meistersinger" 
on,  show  few,  if  any,  such  barren  mo- 
ments, adequately  evidences  their  natu- 
ral growth  from  musical  germs. 

A  great  creator  always  incites  a  large 
number  of  lesser  lights  to  imitate  his 
methods,  but  few  of  them  do  so  suc- 
cessfully. Wagner  is  not,  however, 
answerable  for  the  vague  effects  of  his 
dramatic  means,  when  they  are  trans- 
planted into  Wagnerish  overtures  and 
symphonic  poems.     He  evolved  situa- 


Music  and  Its  Masters  137 

tions  that  made  these  means  legitimate 
and  significant ;  isolated,  they  fall  into 
bizarre  artificiality.  Although  we  can- 
not fail  to  be  influenced  by  the  elements 
which  Wagner  added  to  tonal  resources, 
they,  like  all  other  elements,  must  be 
applied  because  most  adaptable  to  the 
development  of  the  musical  scheme  in 
hand,  and  not  because  of  their  new- 
ness. 

'*  A  prophet  is  not  without  honor  save 
in  his  own  country."  This  was  strikingly 
exemplified  by  the  attitude  of  profes- 
sional Leipzig  towards  Wagner  during 
the  earlier  stages  of  his  career.  Leipzig 
was  at  that  time  regarded  by  the  outlying 
world  as  the  musical  centre  of  the  uni- 
verse, a  Mecca  with  a  magic  balm,  dis- 
pensed by  a  priesthood  whose  Mahomet 
was  Mendelssohn. 

The  town  had  been  a  prominent  seat 
of  learning  since  the  first  part  of  the 
fifteenth  century,  had  possessed  Bach  as 


138  Music  and  Its  Masters 

cantor  of  its  "St.  Thomas'  school/'  had 
for  a  long  series  of  years  maintained  its 
"  Gewandhaus"  concerts,  and  was  the 
greatest  of  all  book-  and  music-selling 
marts. 

These  circumstances  combined  to 
make  Leipzig  stand  out  in  bold  relief 
on  the  world's  map,  but  it  required 
Mendelssohn's  magnetism  to  make  its 
attractions  irresistible. 

The  Conservatory  faculty  of  those 
days  included  all  the  most  prominent 
musicians  domiciled  in  Leipzig,  for  the 
town  was  too  small  to  furnish  adherents 
for  such  contra-minded  parties  or  fac- 
tions as  exist  in  larger  cities.  Men- 
delssohn had  enlisted  his  forces  with 
well-directed  regard  for  harmony,  but 
their  creed,  although  properly  placing 
Bach  as  the  corner-stone  of  musical 
faith,  was  too  narrow  in  its  tenets  to 
admit  those  to  communion  whose  fancy 
led  them  outside  the  pale  of  traditional 


Music  and  Its  Masters  139 

forms.  They  were  even  lukewarm  to- 
wards Schumann,  who  had  lived  among 
them,  had  created  a  period,*  and  had 
contributed  treasures  to  musical  litera- 
ture so  luminous  with  genius  that,  as 
the  mists  of  prejudice  clear  away,  they 
will  eclipse  forever  all  contemporaneous 
productions  in  the  various  forms  which 
they  followed.  The  rugged  boldness 
of  originality  was  in  the  esteem  of  the 
Leipzig  pedagogue  but  an  exhibition 
of  crude  ignorance.  Those  who  could 
not  or  would  not  recognize  Schumann's 


*  Composers  who  originate  forms  or  methods 
that  recommend  themselves  to  the  musical  world 
because  they  voice  recognizable  advance  in  art  ex- 
pression, create  periods.  Mendelssohn  was  in  his 
more  earnest  moods  a  modernized  Bach.  He  did 
not  originate  forms,  but  adapted  those  of  his  great 
ideal  to  our  nineteenth  century  habits  of  thought 
and  feeling.  He  did  this  inimitably,  but  he  was 
more  finished  than  forceful  or  bold,  and  his  impress 
on  art  was  consequently  not  deep,  although  ex- 
tremely salutary. 


140  Music  and  Its  Masters 

great  throbbing  heart  in  his  writings,  be- 
cause he,  in  expressing  his  individuality, 
did  not  always  follow  prescribed  for- 
mulae, would  naturally  have  rejected 
Wagner,  for  his  earlier  works  were  not 
cast  in  classic  moulds. 

Those  of  Wagner's  creations  which 
had  been  before  the  public  previous  to 
i860  were  characterized  by  few  depart- 
ures from  Weber  and  Meyerbeer  in 
scheme.  Wagnerian  harmonies  were, 
however,  too  strong  for  the  Leipzig 
critic,  but  the  public  flocked  to  hear 
them,  and  was  pleased. 

Original  ideas  often  find  first  recog- 
nition among  the  non-professional,  be- 
cause musical  leaders  are  so  saturated 
with  pedantry  that  sparks  of  genius 
cannot  quickly  kindle  them  to  enthu- 
siasm. 

In  1862  the  Gewandhaus  directors 
made  a  great  concession  ;  they  invited 
Richard  Wagner  to  conduct  his  *'Tann- 


Music  and  Its  Masters  141 

hauser  Overture"  at  one  of  their  con- 
certs. This  was  a  fatal  mistake,  for  his 
triumph  was  complete,  and  their  influ- 
ence as  opponents  of  the  *' music  of  the 
future"  was  correspondingly  weakened. 
I  have  discussed  Leipzig  at  such  length, 
not  because  it  was  Wagner's  birthplace, 
but  because  from  this  town,  with  all  its 
intolerance  and  smallness,  started  the 
only  short  road  to  success.  Leipzig's 
endorsement  was  a  universally  accepted 
voucher. 

Wagner  had  found  this  direct  path 
barred,  and  his  wanderings  in  surmount- 
ing or  circumventing  obstacles  lasted 
for  a  long  series  of  years,  but  his  faith 
remained  steadfast,  and  he  reached  the 
goal  of  his  ambition  a  far  stronger 
man  because  of  the  difficulties  he  had 
overcome.  His  appearance  at  the 
Gewandhaus  was  only  a  station  on  his 
course  to  already  assured  success,  and 
not  his  starting-point. 


142  Music  and  Its  Masters 

Wagner  found  opera  a  succession  of 
solo,  ensemble,  and  chorus  pieces,  strung 
upon  plots  often  too  slender  to  give  them 
coherence. 

Texts  had  been  made  subservient  to 
music,  and  that,  in  turn,  to  the  singer's 
convenience  and  ambition  for  display. 
Operas  were  written  as  early  as  the 
thirteenth  century,  but  Cherubini  was 
the  first  Italian,  and  Gluck  the  first  Ger- 
man, to  produce  works  that  have  sur- 
vived. Cherubini  was  followed  by  Ros- 
sini, a  man  of  genius,  but  too  indolent 
to  fully  develop  his  gifts.  Had  his 
beautiful  sensuous  melodies  been  put 
into  richer  settings,  had  more  earnest 
thought  been  added  to  his  spontaneity, 
his  operas  would  have  taken  their  places 
among  the  undying  creations. 

Flashes  of  genius  ultimately  tire.  It 
is  the  steady  light  of  genius,  fed  by 
knowledge  and  earnestness  (as  in  Beet- 
hoven, Schubert,   and  Schum.ann),   that 


Music  and  Its  Masters  143 

can  hold  the  world's  attention  restfuUy, 
which  means  perpetually. 

Bellini,  with  ''  Norma"  and  "  Somnam- 
bula,"  and  Donizetti,  with  "Lucia  di 
Lammermoor"  and  **LucretIa  Borgia," 
still  hold  a  place  on  the  operatic  stage, 
but  their  grasp  is  weakening.  Verdi 
was  the  best  equipped  of  all  Italian  opera 
composers,  and  his  '*Trovatore,"  with 
it  rare  gems,  will  crown  his  memory  to 
the  end  of  musical  time.  His  later 
works,  "Aida,"  **  Othello,"  and  "Fal- 
staff,"  written  under  the  influence  of  the 
Wagner  period,  are  quite  different  from 
his  earlier  operas  in  instrumentation 
and  in  treatment  of  themes.  In  them 
he  is  more  logical  and  stronger,  but  less 
sensuous.  They  furnish  the  first  in- 
stances of  Italian  music  dressed  in  for- 
eign garb ;  of  Italian  music  written 
under  pressure  from  without.  It  has 
until  recently  been  Italy's  province  to 
shed  influence  over  the  musical  world. 


144  Music  and  Its  Masters 

I  construe  Verdi's  concessions  to  Wag- 
ner as  the  strongest  possible  endorse- 
ment of  the  latter' s  ideas.  No  other 
composer  was  in  position  to  pay  such 
tribute  to  Wagner's  forceful  and  far- 
reaching  art  sense. 

The  Italian  composers  of  the  new 
school  are  musical  brigands,  who  for  a 
brief  space  succeeded  in  taking  tribute 
from  the  musical  world.  Their  leader, 
Mascagni,  made  such  a  sensational  raid 
with  his  *'  Cavalleria  Rusticana'*  that 
young  Italy  jumped  into  the  breach  he 
made,  and  evidently  thought  to  take 
possession  of  our  temple,  regardless  of 
their  lack  of  equipment  and  discipline. 
Although  but  few  years  have  elapsed 
since  this  assault  on  art,  its  episodes 
have  already  been  relegated  to  the 
realm  of  disturbing  memories. 

"  Cavalleria  Rusticana,"  the  first  and 
best  of  its  class,  has  some  merits ;  it 
is  short,  melodious,   and  dramatic,  but 


Music  and  Its  Masters  145 

its  melodies  are  often  sentimental,  and 
its  dramatic  points  are  usually  made 
through  the  audacious  employment  of 
crude  means.  The  direct  influence  of 
this  work  and  its  reception,  conspired 
for  harm  to  art. 

Gluck  was  a  Teuton,  and  although 
educated  in  Italy  and  adopted  by 
France,  can  with  propriety  be  called 
the  father  of  German  opera.  His  *Tphi- 
genia  in  Tauris"  and  "  Orpheus  and 
Eurydice"  will  always  be  regarded  as 
classic  models  of  lyric  writing.  Gluck's 
schemes  differed  little  from  those  of  the 
Italian  school,  but  his  harmonic  and 
instrumental  methods  were  German. 

Mozart  was  a  phenomenal  combina- 
tion of  inconsistencies.  His  routine 
and  creative  genius  were  of  the  highest 
order,  his  spontaneity  and  finish  make 
his  music  delightful  alike  to  amateurs 
and  musicians,  but  he  seldom  seems  to 
take   matters  seriously.     **  Don   Juan/* 


146  Music  and  Its  Masters 

the  *' Requiem,"  and  his  string  quartets 
are  exceptions,  for  in  these  he  is  earnest 
and  does  his  genius  fuirjustice. 

Beethoven  gave  us  '*  Fidelio."  He 
was  equally  endowed  with  Mozart,  but 
was  actuated  in  what  he  did  by  earnest, 
deep  feeling.  *'Fidelio,"  although  built 
on  the  old  and  now  discarded  lines,  will 
only  take  second  place  (musically)  when 
some  genius  arises  capable  of  writing 
symphonies  to  supersede  Beethoven's 
nine.  In  ''Fidelio"  we  still  have  the 
string  of  well-defined  pieces,  but  they 
are  rich  in  harmonization  and  polyphony. 

Weber  made  a  great  impression  on 
opera.  His  audacious  use  of  the  orches- 
tra and  of  modulation,  opened  up  new 
fields  of  possibility,  and  there  is  a  doubt  as 
to  whether  modern  German  opera  would 
have  become  what  it  is,  had  Weber  not 
lived.  He  was  gifted  with  an  inexhausti- 
ble store  of  melody,  was  equal  to  all 
dramatic   situations,    however  exacting, 


Music  and  Its  Masters  147 

and  could  court  popular  favor  without 
belittling  his  art, — a  very  rare  quality. 
Weber  was  at  first  Wagner's  model, 
and  ''Rienzi'*  and  '' Der  Fliegende  Hol- 
lander" bear  a  distinct  Weber  impress. 

Meyerbeer  was  a  German,  but  early 
adopted  Italian  methods.  He  was  an 
excellent  business  man,  possessed  ample 
means,  and  therefore  secured  deserved 
recognition  early  in  his  career,  instead 
of  having  lived  almost  a  life  of  deferred 
hopes,  as  is  usually  the  good  musician's 
lot.  Meyerbeer  is  melodious,  and  is 
often  dramatic,  but  unlike  Weber,  some- 
times belittles  his  art  in  catering  to  pub- 
lic tastes.  His  pageant  and  ballet  music 
are  the  most  characteristic  and  impres- 
sive features  of  his  operas. 

Wagner  expressed  contempt  for 
Meyerbeer,  but  evidently  recognized  the 
grandeur  of  the  operatic  pageantry  of 
which  he  was  the  creator.  We  see  evi- 
dences of  this  phase  of  Meyerbeer's  in- 


148  Music  and  Its  Masters 

fluence  until  we  pass  the  *'  Lohengrin** 
stage. 

Many  other  good  operas  were  pro- 
duced during  the  first  half  of  this  century, 
but  as  they  were  not  potential  factors  in 
operatic  evolution,  I  shall  mention  them 
only  in  passing. 

Adam  wrote  "  Postillion  ;'*  Auber, 
**Fra  Diavolo,"  ''Die  Stumme  von  Por- 
tici,'*  etc.;  Flotow,  "Martha"  and ''Ales- 
sandro  Stradella  ;"  Herold,  '*  Zampa  ;** 
Kreutzer,  ''  Nachtlager  von  Granada  ;'* 
Lortzing,  "  Der  Waffenschmied,"  ''Der 
Czar  und  Zimmermann,"  etc  ;  Marsch- 
ner,  ''Hans  Heiling,'*  "Der  Templer 
und  die  Jiidin,"  and  "  Der  Vampyre  ;'* 
Nicolai,  "  The  Merry  Wives ;"  Spohr, 
"Jessonda"  and  "Faust,"  and  Schu- 
mann, "Genoveva."  All  of  these  operas 
are  still  given  at  least  occasionally,  and 
most  of  them  are  excellent  musical  com- 
positions. 

The  situation  at  the  time  when  Wag- 


Music  and  Its  Masters  149 

ner  first  manifested  a  defined  tendency 
towards  the  music  drama  was  as  follows  : 
Gluck  had  given  the  world  his  two  great 
works,  and  they,  together  with  "  Fidelio,'' 
''  Don  Juan,"  "  The  Magic  Flute,"  '*  The 
Marriage  of  Figaro,"  ''  Der  Freischutz," 
and  ''Oberon"  of  the  German,  and 
**Trovatore,"  *' William  Tell,"  ''Norma," 
"Lucia  di  Lammermoor,"  "La  Som- 
nambula,"  "Robert  le  Diable,"  "Der 
Prophet,"  and  "  Die  Hugenotten"  of  the 
Italian,  were  the  most  prominent  and 
best  examples  of  operatic  writing. 

Although  the  first  steps  towards  the 
emancipation  of  opera  from  inconsisten- 
cies were  the  result  of  conditions  rather 
than  of  premeditation,  Wagner  had  suffi- 
cient genius  to  appreciate  the  power  in- 
herent in  logical  sequence :  a  power 
which,  when  compared  with  that  resulting 
from  eccentric  modes,  is  as  the  progress 
of  the  ages  to  that  of  a  leaf  borne  by  the 
wind.     Logical  sequence  moves  onward 


150  Music  and  Its  Masters 

with  irresistible  momentum,  whereas 
fragmentary  diction  is  blown  about  by 
every  wind  of  caprice. 

The  condition  which  most  influenced 
Wagner's  conceptions  was  his  relation 
as  poet  to  his  musical  undertakings. 
He  was  in  each  instance  first  poet  and 
then  composer,  and  nothing  could  have 
been  more  natural  than  his  early  evinced 
disposition  to  guard  his  texts  from  dis- 
torted, disconnected  renderings.  This 
disposition  grew,  as  through  experience 
his  grasp  became  more  and  more  com- 
prehensive. There  were  no  backward 
steps  in  his  career.  It  was  like  his 
schemes, — consequent, — advancing  un- 
waveringly from  inception  to  full  realiza- 
tion in  *' Parsifal"  and  **  Tristan  und 
Isolde." 

Wagner  had  courage  adequate  to 
sustain  him  in  following  his  conceptions 
through  ridicule,  want,  and  almost 
utter    friendlessness.      No    discourage- 


Music  and  Its  Masters  151 

ment  could  divert  him  from  the  even 
tenor  of  his  chosen  course.  His  early- 
operas,  although  their  texts  were  treated 
with  unwonted  respect,  gave  little  inti- 
mation of  the  revolution  which  was  to 
be  accomplished  by  their  author,  and  it 
is  extremely  doubtful  whether  Wagner 
at  this  period  had  a  shadowy  conception 
even  of  that  later  Ideal,  which  time  and 
experience  developed,  in  which  music 
and  the  pictorial  element  were  not  only 
to  collaborate  with,  but  were  to  repro- 
duce the  situations  and  sentiments  of  his 
poems. 

This  kind  of  tone  painting,  in  which 
the  composer  endeavors  to  endow  his 
musical  phrases  with  definite  significance, 
is  justifiable  and  effective  when  they  are 
so  closely  associated  in  performance  with 
the  motive  text  as  to  derive  directness 
from  its  more  tangible  character.  Such 
efforts  must  not  be  classed  with  so-called 
program  music. 


152  Music  and  Its  Masters 

**DerFliegende  Hollander,"  ''Rienzi/' 
and  *'  Tannhauser"  might  have  been  pro- 
duced through  the  co-operation  of  Weber 
and  Meyerbeer,  with  Wagner's  individu- 
ality as  a  flavor.  In  them  the  voices  are 
given  melodies  in  clear-cut  form,  and 
they  contain  pompous  Meyerbeerisms 
almost  approaching  the  bizarre.  This 
Wagner  flavor,  which  consisted  largely 
of  a  disregard  of  harmonic  laws  and 
key  relationships,  as  dictated  by  the  pe- 
dantic school,  caught  the  public,  but  it 
aroused  the  violent  opposition  of  older 
musicians.  They  denounced  Wagner  as 
a  crazy  ignoramus  and  his  operas  as 
abominations. 

Viewed  from  a  theoretical  stand-point, 
there  was  that  in  Wagner's  earlier 
works  which  in  a  measure  justified  his 
critics.  He  was  not  a  good  contra- 
puntist, and  he  consequently  violated 
tenets  of  musical  structure  when  con- 
formity would  have  been  more  adequate. 


Music  and  Its  Masters  153 

The  relations  borne  by  plastic  musical 
diction  to  the  elementary  rules  of  tonal 
science  are  so  little  understood,  and  a 
clear  understanding  of  these  relations  is 
so  important,  that  I  feel  justified  in  re- 
iterating in  different  form  what  was  said 
in  a  former  chapter, — viz.,  that  musical 
theory  as  a  whole  is  but  the  codification 
of  nature's  adjustments.  Extraordinary 
requirements  license  exceptional  means 
and  modes,  but  when  composers  aban- 
don the  letter  of  musical  tenets  and 
substitute  therefor  the  higher  law  of 
compensation,  they  enter  upon  a  field  in 
which  pitfalls  abound,  and  through  which 
nothing  but  keen  judgment,  founded 
upon  experienced  erudition,  can  safely 
guide  them. 

This  law  of  compensation  allows  us  to 
disregard  elementary  laws,  when  the 
nature  of  the  situation  in  hand  is  such  as 
to  warrant  and  reconcile  our  musical 
sense    to  combinations  or  successions, 


154  Music  and  Its  Masters 

which  would  without  this  justification 
sound  crude  and  faulty.  The  habit  of 
what  is  called  free  writing  is  most  per- 
nicious, for  compensation  must  legiti- 
mize each  irregularity  or  we  lapse  into 
incoherency. 

Wagner  was  a  firm,  but  an  equally 
thoughtful  man,  and  while  apparently 
undisturbed  by  the  cyclone  of  criticism 
evoked  by  his  compositions,  saw  his 
vulnerable  points,  and  at  once  set  about 
fortifying  them.  He  studied  counter- 
point exhaustively,  taking  Bach  as  his 
model,  and  memorizing  many  of  that 
master's  most  characteristic  works.  He 
then  gave  the  world  ''  Die  Meister- 
singer"  as  the  fruit  of  his  labor,  and 
therewith  forever  silenced  honest  cavil- 
lers who  had  based  their  adverse  criti- 
cisms on  his  ignorance,  for  that  work  is 
a  sublime  example  of  contrapuntal  vir- 
tuosity, and  it  marks  the  beginning  of  a 
new  era  in  Wagner's  development  as  a 


Music  and  Its  Masters  155 

musician.  His  orchestral  settings  having 
kept  pace  with  his  musical  growth,  had 
ripened,  had  become  tempered,  conse- 
quently "  Die  Meistersinger"  is  one  of 
the  most  beautiful  compositions  of  any 
time,  and  in  it  we  have  the  clear  an- 
nouncement of  the  new  dispensation. 

There  have  been  tons  of  literature 
printed,  having  as  subjects  **The  Music 
of  the  Future,"  "Wagner,"  and  **The 
Music-drama,"  some  of  the  authors  of 
which  have  been  properly  equipped 
(good  musicians  and  liberally  educated 
men),  but  more  have  been  literary 
scavengers.  The  former  class,  having 
been  on  a  war  footing  ever  since  Wag- 
ner became  a  bone  of  contention,  are 
only  just  now  beginning  to  discuss  his 
creations  dispassionately.  Most  of  them 
were  quite  naturally  arrayed  against 
Wagner,  for  the  most  pungent  flavor  of 
the  educated  critic's  writing  is  pedantry. 
He  prefers  traditions  without  originality 


156  Music  and  Its  Masters 

to  originality  which  does  not  conform  to 
traditions. 

Wagner's  first  works  almost  para- 
lyzed these  gentlemen,  and  they  were  a 
long  time  forgetting  and  forgiving  the 
shock.  Their  criticisms  were  terribly 
acrid,  but,  as  I  have  before  mentioned, 
were  instrumental  in  creating  the  music- 
drama,  inasmuch  as  through  pointing  out 
veritable  faults  and  weaknesses  they 
led  Wagner  to  broaden  his  scholarship. 
These  critics  find  it  hard  to  lay  down 
their  arms,  although  the  battle  is  over, 
and  Wagner  died  in  full  possession  of 
the  field.  The  few  who  were  from  the 
outset  in  sympathy  with  Wagner  were 
quite  as  intemperate  in  their  laudations 
as  were  his  opponents  in  their  strictures. 
They  were  blind  idolaters,  and  Wagner 
was  their  musical  ''golden  calf." 

The  essence  of  the  creed  upon  which 
the  new  dispensation  is  based  is  logical 
consistency.    Poetry,  music,  and  ''  stage 


Music  and  Its  Masters  157 

business"  are  by  it  required  to  co-oper- 
ate in  expressing  sentiments  and  in  car- 
rying the  threads  of  dramatic  schemes. 
Each  of  these  arts  is  entirely  essential 
to  Wagner's  creations.  His  texts  are 
statues,  which  music,  stage-setting,  and 
action  imbue  with  life.  For  this  reason 
no  one  can  hope  to  follow  Wagner 
intelligently  who  starts  without  having 
made  himself  conversant  with  his  poems. 
His  later  texts  are  heroic  epics  of  no 
mean  order.  Their  adaptability  and 
musical  suggestiveness  are  phenomenal. 
They  could  have  been  produced  only  by 
a  musician-poet  who  had  his  completed 
pictures  in  view  while  writing  them. 

They  contain  a  vast  amount  of  a 
species  of  word-painting, — viz.,  the  use 
of  words  the  very  sounds  of  which  are 
expressive.  I  remember  well  the  hilarity 
caused  among  the  anti-Wagnerites  by 
the  ''  Nibelungen"  text,  which  was  pub- 
lished  some    years   before   the   operas 


158  Music  and  Its  Masters 

were  performed.  Satires  and  parodies 
were  written  ;  Wagner  was  described 
wooing  his  muse  arrayed  In  fanciful 
vestments  suiting  the  character  of  the 
subject  under  treatment.  That  was  a 
happy  time  for  his  opponents.  Opera 
texts  that  were  not  sentimental  lyrics 
were  incomprehensible.  The  *'  Call  of 
the  Walklire"  was  to  them  the  climax 
of  inanity  ;  but  those  who  have  heard  its 
musical  setting  will  readily  understand 
how  its  performance  hushed  these 
scoffers  into  respectful  silence.  I  men- 
tion this  **cair'  because  most  musical 
persons  have  heard  it,  and  wondered  at 
its  adaptability. 

Wagner  bestowed  the  utmost  care 
upon  each  and  every  task  which  he  un- 
dertook ;  his  effects  are,  therefore,  less 
accidental  than  those  of  any  other  com- 
poser. He  was  in  the  habit  of  making 
three  manuscripts, — viz.,  a  sketch  in 
which  the  outlines  of  form  and  charac- 


Music  and  Its  Masters  159 

ter  were  defined,  then  a  score  in  which 
contrapuntal  and  instrumental  material 
were  developed,  and,  lastly,  a  manu- 
script in  which,  after  ample  weighing 
and  filing,  each  detail  of  dynamic  mark- 
ing, etc.,  was  not  approximately  but 
precisely  indicated.  A  Wagnerian  cres- 
cendo or  decrescendo  must  beo-in  and 
end  with  the  notes  and  dynamic  force 
prescribed  by  the  master,  or  we  miss 
the  full  realization  of  his  pictures.  In 
securing  instrumental  color  he  was  liable 
to  mark  the  various  parts  played  together 
differently,  ranging  from  forte  to  pianis- 
simo, according  to  the  combination  and 
registers  of  the  instruments  employed. 

Wagner  left  little  or  nothing  to  the 
conductor's  discretion.  Nevertheless, 
there  are  few  who  have  the  keen,  deli- 
cate perception  requisite  to  understand- 
ing his  aims,  and  still  fewer  who  have  it 
in  their  power  to  so  control  their  forces 
as  to  secure  their  fulfilment. 


l6o  Music  and  Its  Masters 

We  will  now  look  at  some  of  Wag- 
ner's methods  of  musical  treatment.  In 
the  first  place,  we  find  the  Overture  re- 
placed by  the  Vorspiel  (prelude  or  in- 
troduction). The  former,  in  its  inde- 
pendent completeness,  complying  more 
or  less  with  the  exactions  of  the  sonate 
form,  was  quite  in  place  when  operas 
consisted  of  detached  pieces ;  whereas 
the  "  Vorspiel,"  which  is  analogous  to 
the  dramatic  prologue,  is  better  adapted 
to  the  newer  form.  It  is  composed  of, 
or  at  least  it  introduces,  the  pivotal 
themes  of  the  drama  which  it  precedes. 
In  the  prelude  to  *'  Parsifal,"  which  be- 
gins with  the  communion  theme,  Wagner 
has  accorded  to  it,  and  to  the  grail  and 
faith  motives,  places  of  honor.  They 
are,  indeed,  the  foundation  upon  which 
the  whole  drama  rests,  and  are  the  keys 
to  its  situations.  We  find  the  tradi- 
tional closing  form  (Coda)  conspicuous 
by  absence,  the  prelude  leading  up  to 


Music  and  Its  Masters  161 

and  closing  in  the  opening  tones  of  the 
first  act.  This  omission  is  grateful,  for 
all  careful  musical  listeners  must  have 
been  disturbed  time  and  again  by  the 
iong-drawn,  fanfare  effects  that  custom 
has  placed  at  the  end  of  musical  pieces. 
They  are  relics  of  barbarism  to  which 
even  Beethoven's  genius  could  not  im- 
part logical  significance.  The  composer 
who,  having  finished  the  development 
of  his  themes,  having  said  what  he  had 
to  say,  appends  a  closing  form  com- 
posed of  either  new  material  or  of  old 
inconsequently  presented,  sacrifices  sym- 
metry and  vital  force. 

If  custom  required  poets  to  attach 
Hallelujah-Hosanna  verses  to  their  fin- 
ished poems,  the  result  would  not  be 
intrinsically  more  incongruous  than  that 
produced  by  the  average  musical  coda. 
A  piece  of  music  should  end  roundly, 
with  a  peroration,  but  this  peroration 
must  be  adapted  to  the  character  and 


l62  Music  and  Its  Masters 

length  of  that  which  has  preceded  it, 
must  grow  out  of  the  themes  from  which 
the  piece  has  been  developed,  and  form 
an  integral  part  of  the  whole.  The  oft- 
mentioned  intangibility  of  our  art  seems 
to  induce  timidity  among  her  devotees, 
and  unfortunately  this  timidity  is  often 
greatest  among  those  who  are  best 
fitted  to  introduce  innovations. 

We  will  next  consider  the  vocal  treat- 
ments of  Wagner's  texts.  Following 
his  course  from  the  beginning,  we  find 
the  singer's  parts  grow  less  and  less 
melodic,  but  the  listener,  if  not  the 
singer,  has  more  than  adequate  com- 
pensation for  this  loss  of  lyric  quality 
in  the  dramatic  power  gained.  Revert- 
ing to  our  simile  of  the  statue,  the  stage 
setting  and  orchestra  provide  an  atmos- 
phere, and  the  singer  breathes  into  the 
text  the  breath  which  launches  it  into 
life. 

In  his   later   dramas  Wagner  makes 


Music  and  Its  Masters  163 

the  vocal  parts  purely  musical  declama- 
tion. He  endeavors  to,  and  usually  suc- 
ceeds in  intensifying  the  elocutionary 
effects  through  changes  of  pitch  and  ex- 
pressive rhythm,  but  gives  the  singer's 
convenience  and  voice  limitations  little 
attention.  The  singer's  parts  are,  there- 
fore, very  difficult  to  learn  and  exhaust- 
ing to  sing,  and  they  afford  so  little  op- 
portunity for  display  that  only  a  love 
of  art,  strongly  flavored  with  self-abne- 
gation, could  induce  singers  to  attempt 
them. 

My  study  of  Wagner's  works  has 
greatly  increased  my  respect  for  the 
intellects  of  Wagnerian  singers.  Any 
man  or  woman  who  can  sing  a  leading 
part  in  one  of  the  music-dramas  ac- 
ceptably, must  have  been  endowed  with 
strong  throat  and  lungs,  and  must  have 
acquired  a  faultless  vocal  method. 

It  is  almost  needless  to  say  that  the 
texts  are  set  without  any  of  those  old- 


164  Music  and  Its  Masters 

time  illogical  repetitions  in  which  com- 
posers indulged,  in  order  that  happy 
thoughts  —  good  musical  episodes  — 
might  be  amplified.  Wagner  never  lost 
sight  of  his  central  idea,  and  made 
everything  bend  to  its  fullest  realization. 

His  orchestra  does  not  accompany,  in 
the  common  acceptation  of  that  term, 
but  sings  into  its  many-voiced  melody 
the  sentiments  and  moods  suggested  by 
the  text.  The  principal  means  used 
in  the  attainment  of  this  end  is  the 
"Leit  Motif"  Its  auxiliaries  are  the 
countless  shades  of  harmonic  and  in- 
strumental color  which  Wagner  com- 
manded. 

These  **Leit  Motifs"  (leading  and 
characteristic  themes)  constituted  Wag- 
ner's vocabulary.  They  expressed  to 
him  personalities,  moods,  or  sentiments, 
as  the  case  required,  and  they  were 
consequently  chosen  to  impersonate 
these  in  his  schemes.     They  sometimes 


Music  and  Its  Masters  165 

consist  of  a  few  tones,  and  again  of 
phrases.  They  appear  in  varied  forms 
to  suit  changing  conditions,  but  their 
impersonations  are  only  made  clearer 
through  their  elastic  adaptability.  These 
themes  seldom  appear  in  the  vocal  parts, 
but  Wagner  makes  them,  through  adap- 
tation and  Instrumentation,  express  each 
shade,  from  sunlight  to  storm,  from  love, 
trust,  and  worship,  to  wrath,  fear,  and 
hate,  and  in  this  way  follows  his  text  on 
parallel  lines, — music  by  the  side  of  and 
reinforcing  poetry. 

Wagner's  demands  on  the  stage-car- 
penter and  scene-painter  are  so  great 
that  none  but  large  theatres  with  ample 
means  can  properly  realize  his  ideas  of 
pictorial  illustration.  He  possessed  re- 
markable talent  for  inventing  scenic 
effects,  and  disregarded  cost. 

Wagner  originated  the  idea  of  having 
the  stage  overshoot  the  space  allotted 
to  the  orchestra,  the  effect  of  which  has 


l66  Music  and  Its  Masters 

been  good  in  most  instances  where  ap- 
plied. It  has  two  advantages  over  the 
common  placing, — viz.,  it  brings  the 
singer  nearer  his  audience,  which  facili- 
tates his  task  of  making  himself  under- 
stood, and  it  has  a  grateful  tendency  to 
suppress  obstreperous  brass,  who  have 
a  way,  when  placed  in  front  of  the  stage, 
of  making  singers  forgotten.  I  have 
seen  singers  struggle  with  tense  mus- 
cles and  swelling  veins  to  make  a  vocal 
climax  with  no  other  result  than  an 
heroic  spectacle. 

When  a  conductor  allows  his  brass  to 
bury  the  more  modest  elements  of  his 
orchestra  under  their  clangor,  he  shows 
incapacity, — either  a  lack  of  control  or  a 
coarse  conception  of  their  mission, — and 
as  this  incapacity  is  quite  common,  any 
mechanical  device  which  will  insure 
moderation  on  the  part  of  our  assertive 
friends  who  play  the  trumpets  and  trom- 
bones is  worthy  of  commendation. 


Music  and  Its  Masters  167 

Now  let  us  see  what  can  be  done 
towards  putting  ourselves  still  more 
closely  in  sympathy  with  the  master, 
and  to  better  prepare  ourselves  to  fol- 
low his  creations  intelligently.  Follow- 
ing intelligently  does  not  imply  merely 
the  recognition  of  episodes  of  especial 
significance  or  beauty,  but  much  more : 
it  implies  the  loss  of  no  contributive 
detail  and  an  easy  grasp  of  the  com- 
bined means. 

Exhaustive  study  alone  can  make  this 
possible.  Its  importance  must  serve  to 
excuse  my  reverting  to  the  subject  of 
texts.  One  should  never  take  a  book 
into  an  opera-house,  but  should  make 
it  superfluous  through  earnest  and  re- 
peated readings  at  home.  We  should 
at  least  so  familiarize  ourselves  with  the 
text  of  works  worthy  of  hearing,  that 
we  can  anticipate  situations  and  keep 
in  touch  with  each  and  every  detail  of 
action   and   shade   of    meaning.      This 


i68  Music  and  Its  Masters 

having  been  accomplished,  and  having 
made  ourselves  acquainted  with  the 
more  important  Leit  Motifs,  we  shall 
be  intellectually  equipped  to  follow  the 
master  in  the  development  of  his  music- 
drama  on  the  lines  and  through  the 
methods  we  have  considered. 

I  do  not  wish  to  claim  that  the  most 
favorable  conditions  would  enable  us  to 
fully  understand  intentions,  or  to  dis- 
cover all  points  of  beauty  and  strength 
in  one  hearing ;  our  study  should,  how- 
ever, have  placed  us  quite  inside  the 
cold  curiosity  line.  We  would  be  entitled 
to  a  creative  sense  akin  to  that  felt  by 
a  co-worker :  our  natures  would  have 
been  made  acoustically  receptive  and 
responsive. 


CHAPTER    VI 

WHAT  ARE  THE  INFLUENCING  FACTORS  IN 
DECIDING  MUSICAL  DESTINIES?  WHO 
IS   TO   BE    OUR   SEVENTH    HIGH-PRIEST? 

^  J  ^  OR  reasons  inherent  both  in 
1  I  music  itself  and  in  man's  slug- 
gish and  prejudiced  percep- 
tions, really  great  composers  have  usu- 
ally to  wait  longer  for  recognition  than 
do  those  of  mediocre  capacities.  Mu- 
sic that  is  worthy  of  consideration  is 
as  individual  as  its  composer's  features 
or  his  unconscious  habits.  It  is  a  tonal 
utterance  of  his  most  intimate  nature, 
an  inarticulate  but  clear  expression  of 
his  strongest  emotions, — a  shadow-pic- 
ture of  his  very  soul.  The  more  intense 
the  nature,  the  stronger  the  emotions ; 
and  the  deeper  the  soul  of  the   com- 

169 


170  Music  and  Its  Masters 

poser,  the  less  quickly  can  we  appre- 
hend the  full  import  of  his  writings,  for 
they  are  characteristic  of  him  and  for- 
eign to  us.  Each  period-maker  adds  so 
much  to  art  resources  and  so  materially 
modifies  art  methods,  that  he  may  be 
said  to  originate  a  musical  dialect,  with 
which  our  ears  and  minds  have  to  be- 
come familiar  before  his  poetic  schemes 
can  assume  for  us  sustained  and  clear 
significance. 

Because  of  this  alien  character  of  pro- 
nounced originality,  high-priestly  honors 
are  usually  posthumous,  for  they  are 
bestowed  only  upon  those  who  have 
convinced  the  musical  world  of  their 
fitness  through  the  life-long,  patient,  and 
intelligent  use  of  supreme  endowments. 
It  is  the  musical  world  only  that  has  the 
power  to  confer  high-priestly  honors, 
for  that  ofifice  is  not  at  the  disposal  of 
composers'  friends  or  adherents,  nor  of 
parties  or  clans.     One  must  have  gained 


Music  and  Its  Masters  171 

universal  recognition  as  a  beneficent 
and  radically  new  factor  in  art  in  order 
to  secure  the  requisite  suffrages,  and 
that  requires  so  much  time  that  but  two 
of  our  six  high-priests  lived  to  realize 
the  honor.  Even  Beethoven  did  not 
live  to  feel  full  assurance  of  immortality, 
but  Wagner  did.  He  knew  that  his 
innovations  had  been  accepted  by  the 
world,  that  his  achievements  broadened 
the  foundations  of  art  and  opened  new 
channels  for  musical  thought,  that  his 
individuality  shone  brightly  across  the 
broad  sea  of  modern  culture,  a  "beacon- 
light"  of  resplendent  brightness,  and 
that  he  was  a  period-maker,  whose  im- 
press upon  art  was  too  deep  to  wear 
away,  for  he  was  a  musician  who  abated 
not  one  jot  or  tittle  of  that  which  he 
thought  was  art's  due. 

This  working  throughout  life  for  post- 
humous honors  is  not  so  depressing  as 
it  would  seem  at  first  glance,  for   any 


172  Music  and  Its  Masters 

man,  however  modest,  if  blessed  with 
supreme  endowments,  must  feel  his 
power,  and  be  buoyed  up  by  the  cer- 
tainty of  ultimate  recognition.  The  art 
love,  steadfastness,  ambition,  individu- 
ality, and  imagination  of  truly  great 
men  are  proof  against  the  struggles  and 
discouragements  of  the  artist's  existence. 
Time  is  then  our  final  tribunal,  the 
only  adjuster  of  musical  values  who 
makes  no  errors  in  judgment.  The 
individual  judge  gauges  the  merits  of 
contemporaneous  composers,  guided  by 
his  or  her  personal  impressions.  Time 
gathers  composite  impressions  made 
upon  races  of  music-lovers  during  dec- 
ades, and  her  verdicts,  based  upon 
these  impressions,  are  final.  We  are 
sometimes  nonplussed,  and  even  rebel- 
lious, when  the  success  of  our  favorite 
composer,  or  of  some  especially  sympa- 
thetic piece  of  music,  proves  ephemeral, 
but  the  fittest  always  survives,  and  the 


Music  and  Its  Masters  173 

fittest  is  the  composer  or  work  which, 
in  addition  to  the  indispensable  technical 
and  aesthetic  qualities,  is  pervaded  by 
the  richest  vein  of  altruistic  individuality. 
If  time  be  our  final  tribunal,  then  pro- 
fessional critics  are  the  advocates  who 
present  the  claims  of  artists  at  the  bar 
of  her  court.  These  advocates  differ 
widely  in  ability  and  in  character.  A 
few  of  them  have  great  learning,  acute 
perceptions,  and  honesty  ;  they  will  advo- 
cate no  cause  that  is  prejudicial  to  the 
interests  of  art,  our  muse  having,  as  it 
were,  endowed  them  with  a  super- re- 
tainer. Such  advocacy  embodies  the 
highest  and  best  of  which  the  limitations 
of  individuality  admit.  From  this  ideal 
standard  professional  critics  grade  down- 
ward until  they  reach  assertive,  preju- 
diced, and  sometimes  malicious  igno- 
rance. In  passing  down  the  scale  we 
first  find  capacity  without  the  essential 
confidence  in  convictions  (timid  ability  is 


174  Music  and  Its  Masters 

always  a  weak  factor  in  adjusting  affairs, 
whether  artistic  or  material),  then  hon- 
esty and  good-will  unsupported  by 
capacity,  then  capacity  biassed  by  preju- 
dice or  self-interest,  and  last  and  worst, 
the  pettifogger.  These  classes  show 
arrogance,  and  attract  attention  (tem- 
porarily) in  inverse  ratio  to  their  abili- 
ties. If  we  scan  the  history  of  our 
tribunal,  we  find  that  the  more  assertive 
the  advocate  the  smaller  his  sphere  of 
influence. 

The  great  public  is  the  jury  in  this 
court,  and  its  decisions,  although  ulti- 
mately wise  and  just,  are  always  so  de- 
layed by  the  babel  of  pleas  that  dins  in 
its  ears,  that  I  feel  justified  in  devoting 
a  little  space  to  these  **  moulders  of 
opinion,"  and  to  facilitate  my  purpose 
will  use  a  simile  drawn  from  nature, 
which  is  less  whimsical  and  more  reliable 
than  man. 

Music  is  like  a  sensitive  plant, — it 


Music  and  Its  Masters  175 

flourishes  only  when  each  and  every  con- 
dition is  favorable  to  its  growth.  For 
this  reason  those  who  find  pleasure,  edi- 
fication, and  comfort  in  its  subtle  quali- 
ties should  imitate  the  skilled  gardener 
in  his  watchful  and  discriminating  culture 
of  flowers.  A  professional  gardener  is 
to  horticulture  what  a  critic  should  be  to 
art.  Each  is  supposed  to  bring  trained 
faculties  to  his  task,  but  the  gardener, 
familiar  with  the  principles  that  govern 
flower  growth,  studies  the  natures  of  his 
germs,  and  then  adapts  soil,  tempera- 
ture, etc.,  to  the  requirements  of  each. 
He  thus  starts  out  with  one  material  ad- 
vantage over  his  art  confrere,  in  that  his 
experience  enables  him  to  recognize  the 
genera  of  his  germs  and  to  anticipate 
results.  He  deals  with  seeds,  roots, 
slips,  and  bulbs  ;  the  art  critic  with  the 
mysteries  of  individuality,  of  which  he 
most  often  judges  from  the  impressions 
made  upon  his  susceptibilities  by  a  mo- 


176  Music  and  Its  Masters 

mentary  contact  of  its  outward  mani- 
festations. These  manifestations  are 
seldom  full  and  trustworthy  indexes  of 
creative  capacity,  especially  in  the  cases 
of  young  composers,  because  of  the 
unfavorable  conditions  that  so  often 
attend  upon  their  development  and 
presentation. 

Communities  are  gardens  in  which 
music  thrives,  barely  exists  (the  most 
common  condition),  or  entirely  fails  to 
take  root.  Propagation  is  the  crucial 
test  of  vitalizing  qualities.  A  community 
that  can  produce  new  varieties,  really 
audacious  talents,  must  possess  a  high 
degree  of  fertility.  The  composers  to 
be  found  living  and  creating  in  any  given 
place  are  therefore  reflections  of  their 
musical  environment,  for  the  faculties  of 
musical  organisms  are  more  sensitive 
even  than  music  itself.  Transplanted 
music  will  continue  to  exist  under  con- 
ditions that  afford  no  incitement  to  earn- 


Music  and  Its  Masters  177 

est  creation,  nor  the  elements  from  which 
virility  may  be  drawn.  Beethoven's 
works  interest  communities  in  which  his 
faculties  would  have  remained  latent. 

The  legitimate  functions  of  criticism 
are  to  seek  out  and  to  nurture  true  talent 
and  to  guide  public  discrimination  in  its 
initial  judgment.  Critics  and  reviewers 
are  experts  to  whose  expressed  opinions 
the  printing-press  imparts  degrees  of 
convincing  power  not  always  comporta- 
ble  with  their  merit,  and  spreads  them 
broadcast  for  good  or  ill.  Printed  criti- 
cism, because  of  this  cogent  quality,  and 
because  it  appeals,  and  may  repeatedly 
appeal, — being  in  fixed  form, — to  so 
broad  a  radius  of  intelligence,  should  be 
the  most  powerful  as  well  as  the  most 
active  agency  in  creating  the  conditions 
essential  to  musical  growth  ;  but  a  care- 
ful review  of  the  past  and  present  rela- 
tions of  criticism  to  art  culture  would, 
to    my    mind,    convince  any  unbiassed 


12 


178  Music  and  Its  Masters 

thinker  that  the  decisions  of  our  court 
had  been  delayed  and  not  facilitated  by 
the  average  advocate,  and  that  the  pro- 
ductivity of  our  garden  had  never  been 
increased  by  the  ministrations  of  pro- 
fessional gardeners. 

Nevertheless,  printed  criticism  has  a 
momentary  influence.  We  do  not  nec- 
essarily surrender  when  confronted  by 
criticisms  at  variance  with  our  own  ideas, 
but  the  undue  weight  with  which  printed 
matter  is  endowed  often  causes  even 
expert  opinion  to  waver,  protest  to  the 
contrary  as  it  may. 

Printed  news  is  not  always  authentic, 
nor  are  printed  opinions  on  finance, 
political  economy,  sports,  weather,  etc., 
infallible,  although  usually  written  by 
specialists  ;  but  these  matters,  being  ma- 
terial, adjust  themselves,  and  their  edi- 
torial short-comings  seldom  do  irrepara- 
ble harm  ;  whereas  our  sensitive  art,  the 
elements    of  which  are  emotional,  and 


Music  and  Its  Masters  179 

the  supersensitive  organisms  which  are 
blessed  with  art  productivity,  are  less 
capable  of  recovering  from  the  shock 
incident  to  misconception  and  misrepre- 
sentation. 

Wagner  was  unique  in  this  respect, 
for  he  endured  years  of  calumny  and 
injustice  without  flinching.  His  nature 
was  dual,  as  if  his  art  instinct  had  been 
grafted  into  an  heroic  character,  like  a 
noble  oak,  from  which  it  drew  vitality, 
and  whose  wide-spread  roots  imparted 
stability  to  its  convictions  without  in- 
fusing into  them  any  other  suggestion  of 
its  stern  elements.  Were  all  talented 
composers  as  firmly  rooted  as  Wagner, 
there  would  be  less  reason  for  protesting 
against  ignorance  and  carelessness  in 
print. 

The  second  question  propounded  in 
the  headlines  of  this  chapter  can  be  dis- 
creetly considered,  but  it  can  receive  no 
conclusive  answer  until  time's  verdict  is 


i8o  Music  and  Its  Masters 

rendered.  We  can  weigh  the  impres- 
sions made  upon  our  individual  sus- 
ceptibilities by  the  quaHties  of  the  more 
prominent  candidates  for  high-priestly 
honors,  and  compare  these  with  like 
individual  conceptions  of  ideal  attributes, 
but  the  result  of  our  speculations  must 
necessarily  partake  more  of  the  char- 
acter of  a  weather-vane,  subject  to  the 
caprice  of  changing  conditions,  than  of 
a  finger-post,  giving  reliable  direction  to 
our  anticipations. 

Of  all  the  composers  of  recent  times, 
Brahms  attracted  the  largest  following 
of  musicians,  and  with  right,  for  the 
volume  of  his  worthy  creations  is  larger 
than  that  produced  by  any  of  his  con- 
temporaries. He  wrote  a  vast  number 
of  songs,  ensemble  pieces  for  a  great 
variety  of  instrumental  combinations, 
accompanied  and  unaccompanied  piano- 
forte pieces,  and  symphonies,  overtures, 
etc.,  for  the  grand  orchestra.     His  work 


Music  and  Its  Masters  181 

is  usually  characterized  by  rich  har- 
monies, melodic  voice-leading,  trans- 
parent form,  and  a  varying  amount  of 
spontaneity  that  at  times  fails  to  con- 
ceal evident  effort.  This  effort  makes 
itself  felt  in  peculiar  and  even  grotesque 
harmonic  successions  and  rhythms,  and 
it  is  traceable  through  all  periods  of  his 
career.  These,  which  to  me  are  forced 
methods,  are  the  only  features  that  indi- 
vidualize Brahms's  music.  He  is  great- 
est when  self-forgetful,  and  these  unnatu- 
ral features  bespeak  self-consciousness. 
Schumann,  who  was,  as  I  said  in  a  pre- 
vious chapter,  Brahms's  musical  god- 
father, was  a  genius  with  a  clearly  de- 
fined individuality,  the  complete  and 
natural  expression  of  which  obliged  him 
to  invent  means  to  supplement  those 
that  he  had  inherited  from  his  prede- 
cessors. These  invented  means  were 
peculiar  harmonic  compounds  and  erratic 
accents.      Schumann    usually  employed 


i82  Music  and  Its  Masters 

these  devices  with  grateful  results  ;  for 
he  makes  us  feel  that  they  are  essential 
to  the  development  of  full  significance  in 
his  tonal  schemes.  Genius  has  a  magical 
power  over  resources  and  modes,  often 
transforming  eccentricities  into  felicitous, 
expressive  means,  and  endowing  that 
which  would  be  chaotic  in  other  hands 
with  logical  import. 

Brahms  seems  to  have  been  dazzled 
by  these  extreme  manifestations  of  his 
great  prototype's  individuality.  He  not 
only  adopted,  but  exaggerated  these, 
and  made  them  the  distinguishing  feat- 
ures of  his  style.  He  was  a  masterly 
contrapuntist,  had  a  clear  sense  of  form, 
handled  the  orchestra  well,  although  he 
never  exhausted  its  resources,  and  was 
always  a  logical  thinker.  His  skill  in 
the  treatment  of  themes  was  so  astound- 
ing that  he  often  imparted  significance 
to  trivial  motives  (vide  the  **  Academic 
Overture"  and  his  sets  of  variations),  but 


Music  and  Its  Masters  183 

he  was  not  a  great  initial  inventor  (an 
originator  of  pregnant  themes)  nor  was 
he  a  resourceful  colorist. 

As  I  said  before,  Brahms  was  greatest 
when  self-forgetful,  for  at  such  times  the 
artificial  element  dropped  out  of  his  dic- 
tion and  he  became  a  masterful  musician, 
possessed  of  all  the  qualities  but  one 
that  have  characterized  our  priestly  line. 
This  missing  quality  is  to  my  mind  the 
most  essential  of  all, — viz.,  a  natural,  dis- 
tinguishing, and  pervading  individuality. 

Tschaikowski  received  brief  mention 
while  we  were  considering  Russia's  ser- 
vices to  art  in  the  fourth  chapter.  Be- 
cause of  Russia's  half-closed  door  her 
art  has,  until  recent  times,  been  very 
much  isolated.  For  this  reason  Tschai- 
kowski's  claims  have  not  even  now  been 
fully  laid  before  our  tribunal.  It  is  a 
peculiar  but  characteristic  circumstance 
that  America  anticipated  Europe  by  sev- 
eral years  in  her  knowledge  and  appre- 


184  Music  and  Its  Masters 

ciation  of  this  great  creator.  America 
is  constantly  eager  for  novelty,  and  has 
not  learned  to  seek  it  at  home ;  Ger- 
many, and  in  a  less  degree  the  other 
European  countries,  feel  complacency  in 
their  own  achievements,  and  correspond- 
ing distrust  and  intolerance  of  foreign 
products. 

It  was  but  six  years  ago  that  Germany 
was  made  aware  of  the  fact  that  a  great 
genius  had  lived,  created,  and  died  out- 
side of  her  sphere  of  direct  influence,  and 
almost  without  her  knowledge.  Tschai- 
kowski  had  naturally  been  known  in  a 
way  to  well-read  German  musicians,  but 
it  required  such  a  blow  as  was  struck  by 
Professor  Leopold  Auer  to  draw  from 
our  tocsin  a  peal  sufficiently  vibrant  to 
penetrate  to  the  farthermost  confines  of 
the  musical  world  and  to  herald  the 
coming  of  a  new  hero.  Never  was  an 
act  of  justice  and  love  more  conscien- 
tiously   and    adequately   accomplished. 


Music  and  Its  Masters  185 

Auer  showed  rare  judgment  in  the  se- 
lection of  his  programme.  His  evident 
desire  was  to  display  as  many  features 
of  Tschaikowski's  versatile  genius  as 
possible.  He  therefore  chose  the  schol- 
arly second,  instead  of  the  more  asser- 
tively emotional  sixth  symphony.  The 
violin  concert,  the  "  Nutcracker"  suite, 
and  the  symphonic  poem  **  Francesca  da 
Rimini"  followed.  I  know  of  no  other 
composer  of  any  time  whose  works 
could  furnish  an  equal  variety  of  defined 
moods,  each  bearing  the  unmistakable 
stamp  of  his  individuality. 

Professor  Auer  conducted  the  orches- 
tral works  and  played  the  concerto  with 
a  skill  which  drew  its  inspiration  from 
the  reverent  memory  of  his  lost  friend. 
His  exaltation  infected  the  orchestral 
players,  and  finally  the  audience,  mak- 
ing the  evening  memorable,  and  sending 
out  waves  of  enthusiasm  that  have 
carried  Tschaikowski's  name  and  music 


i86  Music  and  Its  Masters 

to  the  remotest  corners  of  the  musical 
world. 

In  my  previous  mention  of  Tschai- 
kowski  I  accorded  him  virtues  that 
''place  him  at  the  head  of  symphonists 
of  his  time."  He  had,  however,  two 
frailties,  one  of  which  more  or  less  per- 
vades his  works,  while  the  other  shows 
itself  but  seldom.  The  former  is  a  too 
great  fealty  to  his  themes  as  at  first  an- 
nounced, and  the  latter  is  an  occasional 
tendency  to  be  melodramatic.  Plastic 
compositions  must  be  true  to  the  spirit, 
but  not  to  the  initial  form  of  their 
themes,  for  pregnant  themes  possess 
many  phases  of  suggestiveness,  and  the 
more  of  these  phases  a  composer  feels 
and  displays,  the  richer  the  homogeneity 
of  his  creations. 

Were  it  not  for  these  slight  weak- 
nesses in  Tschaikowski's  work  I  should 
not  hesitate  to  predict  that  time  would 
make  him  her  choice  for  our   seventh 


Music  and  Its  Masters  187 

high-priest,  and  he  may  win  the  honor  in 
spite  of  them,  for  his  great  quaUties  are 
overpowering. 

There  are  no  known  candidates  who 
are  worthy  of  comparison  with  these 
two  giants,  Brahms  and  Tschaikowski, 
one  mechanically  and  the  other  emotion- 
ally musical. 


CHAPTER    VII 

A  SUMMARY  OF  MUSIc's  ATTRIBUTES. 
WHAT  CONSTITUTES  MUSICAL  INTELLI- 
GENCE ? 


'  V  I  LTHOUGH  some  of  the  attri- 
W  B  butes  of  our  art  have  received 
repeated  mention  in  previous 
chapters,  I  feel  that  a  short  summary  of 
their  distinguishing  qualities  might  serve 
to  throw  the  outlines  of  my  sketch  into 
clearer  relief.  I  shall  seek  this  back- 
ground without  resorting  to  technical 
analysis. 

Before  undertaking  this  task  I  should 
like  to  emphasize  the  oft-announced  fact 
that  music  is  a  thing  apart.  It,  like 
language  and  the  other  arts,  follows 
lines  that  lead  from  individuality  to  out- 
side intelligence.     In  the  case  of  music, 

x88 


Music  and  Its  Masters  189 

these  lines  start  in  the  innermost  recess 
of  the  composer's  emotional  nature,  and 
connecting  with  lines  that  lead  through 
our  intellects  into  the  equally  secret 
chambers  of  our  natures,  bring  to  us 
sentiments  intelligible,  but  too  intimate 
to  endure  analysis. 

Civilized  nations  have  long  associated 
rhythms  and  moods, — i.e.y  a  marked  four- 
quarter  measure  has  always  been  char- 
acteristic of  the  march,  etc.,  but  rhythm, 
although  it  is  music's  heart-pulsation, 
is  only  the  metre  for  musical  thought. 

Scientists  teach  us  that  certain  sounds 
are  adapted  to  conjunctive  use  as  chords 
because  of  the  mathematical  relation  ex- 
isting between  the  vibrations,  of  which 
they  are  the  audible  results.  They  go 
on  from  this  beginning  through  the 
gamut  of  musical  learning,  and  close 
without  having  given  us  a  key  to  inter- 
pretation ;  so  music  is,  and  must  re- 
main, an  untranslatable  language  of  the 


igo  Music  and  Its  Masters 

soul,  producing  effects  and  inducing 
emotions,  using  the  intellect  as  a  me- 
dium only. 

Dr.  Oliver  Wendell  Holmes  said, 
"  Music  which  is  translatable  is  neces- 
sarily of  a  low  order."  This  sentiment 
is  true,  and  it  voices  a  fine  sense  of 
music's  nature  and  limitations,  remark- 
able in  a  layman,  for  there  exists  a  dis- 
position to  pull  the  creations  of  the 
great  masters  down  to  earth,  and  to 
make  them  tell  tales  of  earthly  experi- 
ences. 

Music's  purity,  strength,  and  beauty 
are  always  sacrificed  through  attempts 
to  materialize  it,  for  great  music  results 
from  the  natural  development  and  the 
felicitous  expression  of  characteristic 
musical  thought,  and  not  in  the  ingen- 
ious tonal  illustrations  of  scenes  or 
sentiments,  which  have  been,  or  might 
better  be,  expressed  in  words,  because 
of  their  material  character. 


Music  and  Its  Masters  191 

Pure,  complete  conceptions  cannot 
take  form  in  other  than  sensitive  na- 
tures ;  sensitive  to  the  influences  of 
life's  surroundings,  receiving  impres- 
sions from  the  bird's  song,  the  flower's 
perfume,  the  storm's  might,  the  moun- 
tain's grandeur,  the  rippling  stream,  the 
peaceful  valley,  and  filled,  at  least  for 
the  time,  with  love  for  God  and  man  ; 
nor  could  such  conceptions  pass  to  ex- 
pression through  intellects  that  had  not 
been  tempered,  refined,  and  broadened 
to  grasp  all  the  resources  that  tonal 
science  offers. 

It  is  in  artificial  music  only, — born  of 
purpose  and  not  of  inspiration, — or  in 
the  work  of  unripe  musicians,  that  sci- 
ence obtrudes  itself  In  other  words, 
when  the  means  are  noticeable,  they 
have  either  been  unskilfully  employed, 
or  the  composer  has  been  actuated  by  the 
ambition  to  display  scholarly  qualities 
regardless  of  aesthetic  considerations. 


192  Music  and  Its  Masters 

How  often  we  hear  works  in  which 
any  possible  sparks  of  sensibility  and 
spontaneity  have  been  smothered  be- 
neath loads  of  counterpoint  and  the- 
matic development,  which  are  devoid  of 
significance  because  not  evolved  in  log- 
ical sequence  !  Drawing  and  anatomy 
are  to  painting  and  sculpture,  and  gram- 
mar, rhetoric,  and  metre  are  to  poetry, 
what  musical  science  is  to  musical  art, 
inasmuch  as  in  each  the  capacity  to  pro- 
duce, or  to  appreciate  what  others  have 
produced,  is  largely  proportioned  to  one's 
knowledge  of  these  structural  laws. 

Temperament,  natural  endowments, 
culture,  and  habit  play  such  important 
roles  in  creating  individual  conceptions 
of  beauty  that  we  can  only  consider  as 
our  criterion  the  judgment  of  people 
existing  in  our  own  environment. 

The  first  essential  of  beauty  is  sym- 
metry. A  rose  cannot  be  beautiful  un- 
less gracefully  formed  and  poised.     The 


Music  and  Its  Masters  193 

Creator's  hand  may  have  tinted  it  incom- 
parably, may  have  distilled  the  daintiest 
fragrance  for  its  portion,  but  these  will 
avail  naught  if  it  has  inherited  ungrace- 
ful proportions,  or  if  the  world  has  dis- 
torted it  during  its  period  of  growth. 

As  the  rose  requires  color  and  per- 
fume to  perfect  its  charms,  so  each  ani- 
mate and  inanimate  creation  in  this 
world  requires  its  suitable  accessories 
to  symmetry. 

According  to  our  standard,  woman 
should  have  a  lithe,  plastic  form,  with  fluc- 
tuating color  and  an  all-pervading  fra- 
grance of  intellectual  modesty  ;  whereas 
man  should  have  a  sinewy  form,  bold 
and  strong,  the  color  of  perfect  health, 
and  the  fragrance  of  intellectual  fear- 
lessness. Each  must  possess  clearly 
defined  individuality. 

God's  creations  are  never  exact  du- 
plicates, and  still  we  have  numerous 
beautiful  roses  and  women  and  Apollo- 
13 


194  Music  and  Its  Masters 

like  men,  each  with  appropriate  attri- 
butes, and  each  satisfying  the  aesthetic 
taste  of  some  one  person  or  class  of 
persons,  because  of  the  affinity  to  that 
object  of  the  personal  ideal  which  was 
implanted  in  this  person  or  these  per- 
sons by  God,  and  which  has  been  nur- 
tured by  conditions  of  life. 

As  in  everything  else  that  lays  claim  to 
beauty,  so  in  music,  symmetry  must  un- 
derlie all  other  attributes.  The  laws  reg- 
ulating musical  symmetry  are  so  rigid, 
when  viewed  from  one  stand-point,  and 
are  so  elastic  when  viewed  from  an- 
other and  higher,  that  it  is  not  at  all 
strange  that  young  composers  stand 
aghast  when  they  reach  the  neutral 
point  of  receptivity  from  which  these 
apj)arently  contradictory  conditions  first 
manifest  themselves.  But  these  condi- 
tions are  not  really  contradictory,  for 
prescribed  form  is  but  a  properly  pro- 
portioned and  adjusted  skeleton,  an  out- 


Music  and  Its  Masters  195 

lining  framework,  subject  to  such  modi- 
fications as  will  adapt  it  to  the  character 
of  our  schemes.  These  modifications 
must  not,  however,  involve  the  use  of 
eccentric  lines,  or  the  omission  of  es- 
sential members  of  the  body  musical, 
for  such  action  would  result  in  malfor- 
mations. 

The  composer,  having  articulated  his 
form,  clothes  it  in  such  melodic  and 
harmonic  material,  moulded  into  such 
shape,  as  will  realize  his  fancy's  ideal. 
The  outcome  of  exhaustive  knowledge, 
directed  with  justifiable  freedom,  is  mu- 
sical symmetry. 

The  next  attribute  is,  as  in  the  case  of 
the  rose,  color ;  which  in  music  is  more 
or  less  attractive  according  to  the  rich- 
ness of  the  material  applied  and  the  ar- 
tistic skill  and  care  bestowed  upon  its 
arrangement. 

There  are  several  sources  to  which 
the  tone  painter  may  resort  for  what 


196  Music  and  Its  Masters 

might  be  termed  primary  colors, — viz., 
the  human  voice,  the  characteristic  quali- 
ties of  instruments,  harmonic  compounds, 
and  rhythm,  the  combining  and  blending 
of  these  primary  colors  so  as  to  produce 
the  most  effective  shade  for  each  episode, 
not  only  when  considered  by  itself,  but 
also  in  its  relations  to  the  whole  pano- 
ramic succession  of  the  finished  picture, 
is  the  problem  that  so  few  solve.  Most 
composers  seem  to  feel  quite  satisfied  if 
they  succeed  in  startling  us  with  uncom- 
mon combinations,  however  crude  and 
irrelevant. 

Next  comes  sentiment,  which  is  to 
music  what  fragrance  is  to  the  rose,  and 
what  intellectuality  is  to  woman.  All 
three  would  be  hollow  mockeries  without 
this  parallel  endowment.  A  piece  of 
music  must  express  a  human  desire,  a 
belief,  or  an  emotion,  otherwise  it  is  but 
empty  sound. 

These     three    attributes — symmetry, 


Music  and  Its  Masters  197 

color,  and  sentiment — are  at  the  com- 
mand of  all  talented  musicians,  but  the 
all-pervading  individuality  that  so  adjusts 
form,  so  arranges  color,  and  gives  such 
adequate  expression  to  each  shade  of 
feeling  as  to  create  natural  but  unique 
tone  pictures,  is  possessed  by  few  com- 
posers of  any  given  generation. 

So-called  original  music  may  be 
nothing  more  than  the  fruit  of  good 
taste  displayed  in  the  arrangement  of 
laboriously  sought  peculiarities  of  means 
and  modes,  and  it  is  therefore  only 
outwardly  individual ;  but  music  whose 
themes  spring  from  a  pronounced  indi- 
vidual feeling,  which  feeling  moulds  its 
form  and  makes  each  contributive  detail 
conform  to  the  spirit  of  the  initial  im- 
pulse, is  truly  original.  Individual  music 
is  then  radically  original,  but  original 
music  is  not  necessarily  individual. 

A  spark  of  individual  genius,  because 
of  its  clean  brilliancy,  sends  out  its  rays 


igS  Music  and  Its  Masters 

into  illimitable  space  ;  whereas  a  whole 
bonfire  of  purposeful  eccentricities  cur- 
tains its  flames  with  non-radiating  ele- 
ments, illuminating  but  a  small  field. 

Now  we  must  step  backward  beyond 
that  point  where  science  begins  to  shed 
her  light  upon  natural  laws.  What 
agency  produces  life,  starts  and  keeps 
in  motion  the  machinery  of  our  bodies, 
and  places  a  soul  behind  our  features  ? 
The  same  agency  must  guide  us  in  the 
conception  of  musical  ideas,  or  they  will 
lack  all  living  elements.  This  power 
is  God :  God  in  us, — a  well-spring  of 
inspiration  for  those  whose  suscepti- 
bilities are  sufficiently  acute  to  feel  its 
influence. 

Science  can  teach  us  to  produce  rich 
harmonic  successions  and  instrumental 
colors,  but  it  cannot  impart  the  magical 
power  of  spontaneous  and  sequential 
growth  that  characterizes  great  compo- 
sitions, nor  can  it  show  us  how  to  identify 


Music  and  Its  Masters  199 

the  spirit  which  pervades  such  works. 
Any  one  can  prepare  himself  to  weigh 
the  intellectual  properties  of  a  musical 
work,  but  the  spirit  which  these  proper- 
ties are  supposed  to  clothe  will  not 
materialize  for  unsympathetic  souls. 
Herein  exists  the  reason  for  differences 
of  opinion  entertained  by  cultured  and 
honest  critics. 

Some  works  possessing  all  the  attri- 
butes of  greatness  must  be  often  heard 
before  they  begin  to  enlist  our  sympa- 
thies. Others,  equally  inspired,  fail  to 
awaken  responsiveness  in  certain  per- 
sons. Differently  constituted  natures 
cannot  be  expected  to  vibrate  in  unison, 
and  as  real  music  is  soul  vibration  made 
audible,  it  seeks  responsiveness  in  our 
natures,  as  any  given  tone  lays  hold 
of  objects  whose  vibrations  are  sympa- 
thetic, causing  them  to  emit  consonant 
sounds. 

The  impression    made   by  music  can 


200  Music  and  Its  Masters 

only  be  similar  even — in  character  and 
intensity — where  the  hearers  are  equally 
endowed  and  cultured,  and  are  equally 
conditioned  mentally  to  surrender  them- 
selves to  its  influence.  As  long  as  each 
member  of  the  human  family  is  distin- 
guished by  individuality,  so  long  will  the 
impressions  made  by  the  intangible  ele- 
ments in  art  be  diverse. 

Suggestiveness  is  the  highest  quality 
with  which  a  poet,  an  orator,  a  painter,  a 
sculptor,  or  a  musician  can  endow  his 
productions.  Its  existence  implies  a 
clear  conception,  rooted  in  sentiment  and 
adequately  expressed  through  adaptable 
means,  but  well  within  the  line  of  de- 
marcation which  separates  logical  terse- 
ness from  redundancy. 

Who  can  listen  to  Beethoven,  Schu- 
bert, Schumann,  or  Wagner  and  not  find 
himself  in  a  dreamland,  peopled  not  so 
much  by  children  of  the  great  master  s 
brain,  as  by  the   offspring   of  his    own 


Music  and  Its  Masters  201 

fancy  ?  These  results  are  the  fruits  of 
suggestiveness. 

Routine  often  leads  to  diffuseness ; 
the  lack  of  it  always  results  in  illogical 
and  inadequate  expression  ;  but  routine 
directed  by  genius  seldom  fails  to  dis- 
cover the  vital  line  which  marks  the 
boundary  of  completeness.  On  one 
side  of  this  line  we  have  inland  waters, 
flowing  from  the  author's  fancy :  on  the 
other,  and  fed  therefrom,  the  open  sea 
of  semi-conscious  cerebration,  with  its 
capricious  winds  and  tidal  currents. 

If  a  writer  succeed  in  enlisting  our 
sympathies,  the  flow  of  his  thoughts  will 
impart  the  impetus  requisite  to  carry 
us  beyond  this  line  ;  but  here  his  direct 
influence  ceases,  for  the  stream  of  his 
fancies  becomes  merged  in  the  ocean  of 
each  of  our  lives*  memories,  hopes,  and 
experiences,  and  each  having  received 
an  impulse  comporting  with  his  recep- 
tivity and  habits    of   mind,   sails   away 


202  Music  and  Its  Masters 

upon  his  course  propelled  by  unfettered 
imagination. 

MUSICAL    INTELLIGENCE. 

A  symphony  is  like  an  epic  poem  ;  its 
salient  points  rather  than  its  rounded 
whole  appeal  to  the  average  reader  or 
listener.  The  striking  episodes  of  un- 
familiar compositions  in  large  form,  are 
prone  to  come  out  into  undue  promi- 
nence, and  so  blind  us  to  their  true 
significance  as  phases  of  sequential  de- 
velopment. The  sustained  effort,  and 
experience  demanded  by  a  symphony, 
are  the  supreme  tests  of  a  composer. 
We  therefore  have  no  right  to  an  opin- 
ion in  regard  to  the  merits  or  demerits 
of  a  large  earnest  work  until  study  and 
hearing  have,  in  our  understanding, 
joined  its  episodes  and  given  them 
importful  continuity. 

Beethoven,  Schubert,  Schumann,  and 
Wagner  were  endowed  with  great  talent, 


Music  and  Its  Masters  203 

which  indefatigable  energy  advanced 
to  genius.  They  worked  upon  a  plane 
far  above  other  men.  We  cannot  hope 
to  feel  what  they  felt  while  creating,  but 
we  can  work,  the  while  knowing  that  as 
we  approach  their  level  in  knowledge 
and  experience  our  minds  will  better 
assist  our  understanding  of  their  con- 
ceptions. Their  joys,  their  sorrows,  their 
triumphs,  their  every  sentiment  should 
find  response  in  our  hearts ;  but  the 
impression  made  by  music  can  only  be 
distinct  after  we  have  made  ourselves 
acoustically  receptive,  after  our  natures 
have  become  attuned  like  aeolian  harps 
to  responsiveness  when  waves  of  melody 
strike  upon  them. 

Our  minds  can  be  sounding-boards, 
which  gather  and  reflect  upon  our 
souls  the  tone  pictures  we  hear.  A 
wooden  surface  must  be  smooth,  prop- 
erly formed,  and  perfectly  poised,  or  it 
will  not  collect,  focus,  and  reflect  sound 


204  Music  and  Its  Masters 

effects.  In  the  same  way  our  mental 
sounding-boards  must  be  properly  pre- 
pared, or  they  will  not  collect  details 
and  reflect  sentiments.  This  prepara- 
tion involves  the  use  of  all  available 
means  for  shaping,  refining,  and  poising. 
The  earnest  study  of  any  branch  of 
learning  broadens,  and  the  contempla- 
tion of  the  beautiful  in  nature  and  art 
quickens,  the  perceptions. 

Pedantry — another  name  for  self-suffi- 
cient ignorance — will  warp  and  so  dis- 
tort our  reflector  as  to  mar  its  efficiency, 
making  it  unjust  alike  to  the  subject  and 
to  us. 

The  ear  should  be  capable  of  trans- 
mitting correctly,  and  if  possible  in  de- 
tail. Some  persons  are  endowed  with 
absolute  pitch.  These  fortunates,  if 
they  persist  in  careful  listening,  can  be- 
come able  to  follow  an  intricate  compo- 
sition, in  its  modulations,  thematic  de- 
velopment, etc.,  more  easily,  as  well  as 


Music  and  Its  Masters  205 

more  accurately,  through  hearing  than 
through  reading  the  printed  page.  This 
ability  marks  a  long  stride  towards  sym- 
pathy with  the  composer,  especially  as 
its  exercise  involves  undivided  attention 
to  the  subject  in  hand. 

The  absence  of  absolute  pitch  is  no 
indication  of  lack  of  talent,  and  those 
who  cannot  acquire  it  have  no  reason 
for  discouragement.  Every  ordinarily 
gifted  student  can  educate  his  hearing 
to  recognize  intervals  (seconds,  thirds, 
etc.)  and  the  tendency  of  chords,  as 
based  on  the  relations  existing  between 
the  tones  of  which  they  are  composed — 
to  each  other  and  to  the  key. 

We  should  strive  to  make  ourselves 
good  mediums.  Refined  creations  can- 
not appeal  to  crude  natures.  The  sav- 
age, although  sometimes  possessing 
poetic  instincts,  prefers  his  own  music, 
with  its  monotonous  weirdness,  to  that 
which  more    civilized   communities    can 


2o6  Music  and  Its  Masters 

offer.  Our  right  to  pass  judgment  upon 
others'  creations  will  therefore  depend 
largely  on  the  distance  we  are  removed 
from  the  savage  in  the  process  of  evo- 
lution. 


THE    END 


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